


Tailored Poison

by PoisonGlamor



Category: Adam Lambert (Musician)
Genre: Accidental Drug Use, Betrayal, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Forced Marriage, M/M, Multi, Murder, Psychological Torture, Self-Destruction, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-11-27 02:33:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 53,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/657093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonGlamor/pseuds/PoisonGlamor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
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            </blockquote>





	1. Tailored Poison

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks @LambertLover19 for the suggestion on the title :D
> 
> About:  
> This is a fiction that is filled with sins: betrayal, disloyalty, bullying, raping, prostitution, drugs, plotting and MONEY. But still, there will always be good people, hope and true love. How the world shaped the innocent little boy to a fighter.
> 
> Enjoy the first chapter! xoxo
> 
> Adam was born in January 29, 1890.

Chapter 1 – The Root of All Evil

In the 1900s, social class was defined, and status and wealth was reflected by the clothes people wore. Fashion spread rapidly all over the country, from designer stores, department stores to tailors, people started to explore with different fabrics, velvet, silk, satin, they never got tired to make bolder statements. For the most perfect fit and measurement, it was very common to visit custom fitting stores.

In this town on the west coast, among all people’s favourite, Ricci and Lambert Fine Tailoring brought the greatest impact to the local fashion industry. Ricci and Lambert Fine Tailoring, run by the best friends and designers Nathan Ricci and Roland Lambert, was renowned for providing unparalleled quality and the most unique silhouette. Dresses, gowns, waistcoats, suits,  whatever it was, there was a saying that once you had tried on their creation, you would never shop from any other stores.

Roland was a quite good looking man himself. Having a successful career in the age of 35 and an 18-year-old beautiful wife, he was said to be the most enviable man in the world. Together with his flawless execution on his works, he always overshadowed his partner, Nathan, who was similar in age, but was still single. Modest Roland called himself only a lucky tailor.

However, when their first son was born, it was proven that fairy tales would only appear in children’s books and folklores.

Something about his family definitely got people’s attention: as a blonde, blue-eyed man with a brunette, green-eyed wife, Roland’s son was a ginger with light grey eyes. It was January 29, 1890 when the baby boy was born. The fact was, Roland was not his beautiful wife’s first man, and when she married him, she had already been pregnant.  Of course Roland had known it and he did not mind. And yet, jealous people would never give him a break.

 

***

During the boy’s 6 years of life, his red hair, grey eyes that sometimes looked light blue or green, pale and freckly skin, everything was too obvious, too impossible to hide. Adam the little boy was rejected by most of his peers. Classmates called him a ‘bastard’, neighbors’ children nicknamed him a ‘mutt’.

Lacking friends around, Adam was emotionally very attached to his parents. He always wanted his parents’ hugs, he did not want to sleep alone, he clung to his mom’s hand even when he was fast asleep. As much as the Lambert couple knew what a nice boy their son was, they believed that Adam would grow up to be a boy everyone wanted to befriend with.  

Though all teachers confirmed the couple that the boy was an unusually clever one with an unmatched mature soul, the ultra-quietness of the boy worried them much: Adam just would not talk.

Roland had been looking forward to Adam’s _“Daddy”_ for 6 years, that Friday night, he had his dream come true.

Little Adam stayed at the sewing room with Roland after dinner, he was as usual playing with the fabrics quietly after finishing his homework. And, he loved to color the design drafts that were put aside by his dad.

“Adam?” Roland called his boy softly, “Look at this,” he showed him a huge piece of custom-made black lace and the boy dashed to the fascinating fabric, his hands flew immediately onto it as if it was a magnetic.

The dad laughed, “Wonderful! You like it,” he held the little hands and continued, “These are daddy’s lucky hands. Every fabric you touched turned into my best creations.” He rubbed the boy’s soft, chubby face and said, “I hope one day you’ll say ‘Daddy, I love this dress you made.’”

Then the dad went on sewing the luxurious evening gown with beads, lace and sequins, and the boy continued on his coloring game. Roland was so impressed when Adam showed him how he had trimmed the corset with the lace. Even though it was only some rough drawings, the boy’s fine taste in fashion was very clear.

“A corset with lace trims? How will you make it less tacky and more luxurious?”

Adam frowned, and he turned around. In the sea of fabrics, he spotted the best burgundy satin to match with his new favourite lace right away. He could not wait to cut out a little piece from both fabric and passed them to his dad.

“Wow, what a nice combination! Let’s put them together.” He took over the cloth from the little hands, and started to sew, “But remember, when daddy’s not around, don’t touch the scissors –”

“AHH!”

Suddenly, Roland screamed, short but piercing. Adam froze, terrified.

“Adam… Call Mommy… Call Mommy…” Roland moaned, he palmed his right eye.

“Daddy…” Adam muttered, his tiny body shivered as he saw blood dripping through his dad’s fingers, “Daddy… you okay…”

“CALL MOMMY NOW! I CAN’T SEE!”

The needle of the sewing machine broke, and the small broken piece of needle pierced into Roland’s right eye. He lost his sight of the eye completely.

Since then, Roland could no longer sew as sleek as before. For a few weeks after losing his sight, he could not even cut a straight line on a fabric. Nathan was the only one that worked to hit the deadlines. Finally, the two partners had to refund to most of the clients while there were tons of half-finished tailor-made garment and yards of expensive fabrics left in their warehouse. To retain Nathan’s loyal clients, eventually, Roland had agreed to remove his name from Ricci and Lambert Fine Tailoring – he resigned.

Although Adam was very young, he understood what had happened to his family, why they had to move out of the town later, from a big house to a leaking small house, in the marginal neighborhood. He never complained.

Roland insisted on taking his sewing machine along, even it had deprived him of his eye. Yet there was one thing he never knew – Adam had removed something from the machine, something left on the broken half piece of needle, something hard and transparent. What Roland saw was his son’s bleeding tiny fingers. He lost his temper.

“YOU –” He slapped his boy, for the first time, _“Why did you touch it? You don’t want your fingers? Never touch it again! You hear me?”_ He yelled deafeningly, _“Are you not hearing me?”_ and _BAM_ , he slapped on the boy’s face again.

Adam stood still, swallowing his tears. He knew exactly what happened, but would it help anything if he told the truth? That the needle had been broken and glued on, obviously by his dad’s best friend? Taking the third (and the last in his life) slap from his dad, Adam opened his lips, “Daddy… It’s not your fault… I… still love you…”

Silence took over the room, and few seconds later Adam was wrapped into his dad’s arms. “What did I do?... Adam, forgive me… I won’t hit you again…”

Over his dad’s shoulder, Adam stared at the sewing machine, so shiny with it newly polished silver color, the witness of betrayal, disloyalty and greed. He believed that one day his dad would stand up again, for he was the most talented man. He would just keep the story of the broken needle a secret.

From time to time, Roland made clothes for folks in the neighborhood. But his designs were never delightful anymore, this used-to-be famous tailor and designer could not even gain a loyal customer. He was so ruined. Adam waited and waited, only to see his dad became degenerated through time.

And his mom, his very beautiful mom, seldom cared anything but the big house, her dresses, her hats and the past. Silk, satin, velvet, all costly fabrics were sold by her before they ever had the chance to become a garment. There were only two rolls of fabrics Roland would protect – the burgundy satin and the black lace which Adam loved the most. He lied to his wife that the satin was “only sateen with a higher thread count. Everyone knows it’s cheap, it’s fake satin.”

Subsequent to the rough days, the Lambert family’s relationship came to an end in 1898, on Adam’s 8th birthday, when the mom suggested selling the sewing machine for Adam’s birthday cake.

“Mommy, I don’t need a cake – ” Adam said, as softly as always, and his voice was covered by his mom’s right away.

“SHUT UP! YOU KNOW NOTHING!” She turned to Roland and went on bawling, “How can you call yourself a husband and a father when you can’t even afford a cake for your son?”

“Mommy…” Adam grabbed his mom’s hand with both of his hands.

“Don’t touch me!” She shoved his hands off, “If it was not you, I’d not have to marry this man! Why did you come to me? Just why?”

“LILLIAN!” Roland banged hard on the table, “ARE YOU CRAZY? NEVER SAY SUCH THING TO HIM!”

“Why not? I didn’t even want him! You said keep this baby and now what? You can’t even buy him food!” She bellowed neurotically.

“Ehh….. Mommy….” Adam opened his mouth wide and wailed. The wooden hut trembled with the sound of the fight, and the boy’s cry. He was unwanted… that must be a joke. “Mommy…” He tried to clutch his mom’s hand again, like how he did before, clutching that warm and soft hand tight when he was asleep, the hand that had been comforting him in every bad dream. “Mommy…”

 “Don’t call me mommy. I happened to give birth to you, that’s all!” She swung his little hands off, “What else can you say? You’re a nightmare! You aren’t mute, but you just won’t talk to me. You’re so scary, you know? I never know how to get alone with you!” Fat tears ran down her eyes as she yelled, “I’ve had enough… Why don’t you talk?... Why can’t you be normal? I’m so stressed…”

“Mommy…” Adam said between his coughs, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

“You’re not. I am sorry for you. I know, you hate me. You wanna punish me.” Hysterically, she grasped Adam’s shoulders and shook him, “I don’t know who your real dad is, and I made you face all the insult. You hate me, right? You hate me!”

“Mommy… Mommy…” Adam did not say anything else, he did not know what to say other than crying his Mommy.

Roland ended the chaos with a slap on his beloved wife’s face. She left, and she never came back.

Roland collapsed, completely. He had no more motivation to draw or to design. Adam finally had to drop out from school half a year later as their family was running out of daily bread. From then on, Roland lost energy, he found himself worthless and guilty, he was sleeping excessively almost every day.

 

***

It had been 5 years since his mom left, and the 5th year since his father’s break down. Despite his young age, Adam had already started to _work_ – he was collecting rags and discarded clothing, and later he would turn the fabrics into doll outfits, purses and pouches. Although people would not mind buying some pieces from such an adorable vendor, the sales were not very high. Usually he would stand on the street, vending till he could smell dinner from the houses around.

“Daddy… Wake up…” Adam spoke to his dad who was snoring, “Look, I made this. I don’t know how to make the pants…  Teach me…” Roland stirred, but he did not wake up. “You’ve been sleeping since yesterday… Daddy?...” Once again, Adam left to work with his pouty lips.

That evening, miracles happened and Adam had sold all his goods so he could go home earlier than usual. As he opened the door, he saw Roland hid a letter underneath the mattress before walking to the kitchen dreamlike.

It was not curiosity that persuaded him into stealing the letter, but the wishful thought that it might be from his mother. He searched under the mattress, and there were a dozen of envelopes, he grabbed a few of them –

“Adam?” Roland suddenly popped out from the kitchen.

“Yes?” Nervously, Adam stuffed the letters to his back, under his top, he turned at Roland, “Daddy?”

“Where did you hide the liquor?” Roland’s eyes were half closed, obviously he did not see Adam’s hands were unnaturally at his back.

“I didn’t touch it,” he quickly tucked his top into his pants, “I bought some potatoes and we have milk tonight –”

“Give me some money.” Shamelessly, Roland reached out his hand and asked for money for his liquor. He almost slapped the boy for rejecting his request, but he held back as the boy started to tear up.

What a typical night the father and son would have when Roland was awake. There were few times Roland had stolen money from his sleeping boy.

Sometimes Adam felt complicated if he really wanted to see his dad awake. When Roland was not sleeping, he would be drinking. And the anger, frustration and violence he exhibited was way too much for a 13-year-old to take.

When Adam was little, Roland had been waiting for him to talk, with his every patience. Adam remembered it with his heart. Now Roland was the one that needed the care and encouragement, Adam would not give up on him. He would do anything which might possibly help Roland gain back his interest in _life,_ talking to Roland a lot, saying all kinds of sweet words, showing him his designs, singing lovely songs…

Unfortunately, Roland’s claim to have serious headaches and other chronic pain lately concerned Adam a lot. And the letters were salt onto the boy’s wounds: during all these years, Roland had been sending Nathan letters, begging him for help. However, Nathan returned the letters to him without even opening the envelopes. The last letter from Roland stated that he knew he had not much time left, he pleaded Nathan to take care of Adam after his death.

Adam did not expect the day to come that soon, he would never expect it to come. A week later in midnight, Adam woke up with Roland’s touch.

“Adam,” Roland caressed the boy’s fluffy hair, he pressed on Adam’s chest when he was about to sit up, “Lay there, my boy, you must be so tired. Will you forgive daddy?”

“Of course, daddy,” Adam stared up at Roland, he was wide awake. “Welcome back. I know you can make it!”

“I love you so much. I regret it… so much… I shouldn’t have let you face everything alone…” Roland sobbed, “I am a bad daddy…”

“No, daddy, don’t say this…” His little hands clutched the big ones.

“I still remember… the first time you drew… You drew my face on the sewing machine… I love it so much, I don’t want to lose it… I was wrong…”

Adam could no longer hold his tears here, Roland wiped away the teardrops on Adam’s cheeks and he went on sobbing, “I should have let your mom sell it… As long as you’re with me, I can always see your drawings… I’ve lost you your mommy… I’ve made you suffer, Adam… I can’t forgive myself…”

“Daddy…”

“Now you can design your own clothes, you talk like a grown boy, you can take care of yourself… I’m so proud of you.”

“Daddy, don’t leave me! Stay with me… Please…” Finally Adam pushed up and fell into Roland’s arms, crying. “Don’t leave me alone…” He wept. He did not want it to be true that Roland sounded like saying the words of parting.

“Just remember, daddy always loves you, although we have different hair. And, your freckles are the cutest thing in the world.”

“I love you too, daddy… You’re my only daddy… Don’t leave me…”

Little Adam cried himself to sleep, in his daddy’s warm embrace. And, the next morning, he woke up on a cold body.

 

***

With the help from the neighbors, Roland was buried. Adam had no money for a coffin, so he wrapped his dad’s body up with the last 2 rolls of fabrics he had – the black lace and the burgundy satin. Adam wanted to put the sewing machine together with Roland, however, the neighbors made him to sell it for the expense on the “funeral”, in which the whole neighborhood was simply standing there, watching soil covering up the body.

Adam said the last “goodbye” to his dad. He gathered his things together and left the house he had been living for half of his life. He decided to flee back to the town, whatever it would take, he just had a feeling that his mother might be there.

On his way back to his old _home_ , his journey was more like an errant. He had to vend the remaining doll clothes for food. For his sweet smile and likability, hopefully the moms would offer him more than he asked for.

“Awww, poor thing,” a lady passed by and saw Adam, “Why are you so dirty and thin?”

“Madam, my dad passed away, I’m looking for my mom. She must be in the town… Please help me.” Adam sobbed, “Madam, does your daughter like dolls? Here are some doll outfits I made.”

“You made these all?” She asked disbelievingly, and Adam nodded. “Oh my goodness, you’re such a good designer. I’ll buy them all.”

“Thank you very much! Thank you! Thank you!” Bowing and kneeling to the ground, Adam was so thankful to the lady that he did not know how to react.

The kind and well off lady even offered Adam a shelter for a night. Adam finally had hot soup and food to eat after starving for almost a week. He also had a hot bath in the lady’s home.

In fact, although Adam was by now only a little boy, it was not deniable that this ginger haired boy with light blue-grey eyes would grow up as a very handsome gentleman in a few years. He was so attractive that the rich widow wanted to adopt him. But Adam still preferred to look for his real mother.

“I can be your domestic helper during my stay in exchange. Thank you so much for the shelter!” Adam bowed. Everyone in the house liked the nice little boy. The next morning, the housemaids taught him to wash the kitchen with lemon juice, to remove oil and to neutralize the taste and smell.

“Lemons are our best friends. See my hair? I got this nice blonde hair with the help of lemon juice,” a young housemaid said.

“Blonde? With lemon juice? How?” Adam widened his eyes.

“Like this,” she squeezed some juice onto her hands and spread on her long, wavy hair, “Then, wait for a few hours under the sun and wash it off.” She tied her hair up and was ready to work. “And now put the lemon into the water. We can start cleaning the kitchen.”

He helped in the house till afternoon when the lady of the house fed him again, but he rejected, he had been eating and resting there for free, he felt he had taken too much. He had to resume his journey.

“Adam, I’m sorry, I can’t take you to the town. I’m afraid I won’t want to let go of you. If you can’t find her, you can come back to me.” The lady not only packed him bread, candies and water, also some lemons and expensive tea leaves, she insisted that Adam needed more vitamins to stay healthy until he could see him mom again. 

After giving the lady a genuine hug, Adam left for the town. Just when he had left the house, he ran – he could not wait to try on the lemons on his hair. He rubbed a generous amount of juice on his red hair, until the fluffy thing turned all wet and stuck to his scalp. With the slightly stingy feeling on his head, he had never felt so impatient in his 13 years of life. Anyway, there would not be any public bathroom nearby, he had enough time to let his hair color fade.

 

***

He did not count how many days he had been walking, finally, he was back in the familiar town. The park he used to spend his Sundays with his parents was still there, so was the very big public bathroom.

Looking at the full length mirror next to the sinks, he did not recognize himself at once. He was so _blonde_. Dashing to the sink, washing off the stickiness off his head, he threw his hair backwards and made it stand up all spiky. He gazed at his own reflection for a good few minutes… That was it… That was exactly _it_. That was how Roland looked like when he was still the greatest tailor and designer in town, this smart, blonde hairdo.

“Get out of the way, kid!” A big hand suddenly grabbed on Adam’s neck and swung him away.

Two huge men were then grooming themselves in front of the mirror.

“What’s this shirt, man?” One of the men sneered at the other, “I can’t believe that you’re going to the Ricci’s.”

 _The Ricci’s_? Adam strained his ears, overhearing the men. He learnt that Ricci Fine Tailoring was recruiting domestic helpers and new tailoring students. Told by his instinct or driven by hatred, Adam decided to go for a try. He so got to the store’s back door and luckily he found the old doggy door, which he used to passed through many Friday nights, was still there.

Walking through a long, narrow hallway with a high ceiling, he peeked into the stockrooms in where he used to play hide and seek with Roland and some old tailors. Now the used-to-be-roomy stockrooms were no longer good places for him to hide.

The last room right before the door to the store was the sewing room. The cigarette burns on the brown doorframe were still there, from his stomach level and down, formed a vertical line. He could not help smiling with tears forming in his eyes – those were his height, marked by Roland. Roland did not smoke, the cigarettes were borrowed from the oldest tailor there. Every object had a story with Adam, and Adam would love to review them all in detail.

“Who are you?” A young man, a very much effeminate one with his light brown hair all slicked to the back, yelled, “Who let this dirty boy in?” The man opened the door to the store and yelled at a grandma who was cleaning the showcases. “Dorothy! Kick him out.” He stepped backwards as Adam approached, as if Adam was infectious with some terrible diseases.

“Sir, please! Employ me! I can do whatever you want me to!” Adam kneeled to the ground and started pleading, “Please don’t kick me out. I will die on the street!”

“Who cares? Just don’t die here. KICK HIM OUT!” The man snarled again and another man came out from the sewing room, about to take Adam out of the store. The effeminate man then headed back serving his very wealthy-looking client. The client seemed to be in a hurry, he paid for the waistcoat without trying on.

“NO! NO!” Adam struggled out of the man’s grip, he rushed to the man and the client and snapped, “This waistcoat won’t fit you. Don’t pay!”

“BULLSHIT!” The man yelled and slapped on Adam’s face, “GET OUT OF HERE YOU DIRTY THING!”

“I’m telling the truth! It isn’t flattering on his chest and his arms can’t even pass through the armscye!”

“That’s bullshit! We do the most accurate measurement and the best custom-made clothes! Are you new here?”

“You’ve either measured him wrong or this isn’t the waistcoat he has ordered!”

During the argument, the client tried on the waistcoat, and, he interrupted, “Ah! This doesn’t fit me, Clark. Thank you, boy.”

It turned out Clark had passed the wrong clothes to the client.

Nathan Ricci was watching the whole thing, and he ordered the staff not to stop the argument. “Miss,” he talked to the young lady, loud enough to get Adam’s attention, “This is the finest satin in our store. Look at its soft and smooth texture, it suits your perfect skin.”

“That isn’t satin,” Adam said, “You can’t cheat your clients like this. People trust this shop.”

“Then what is this?” Nathan asked.

“Cotton, with the luster resembles that of satin. It’s produced with a high thread count, it looks nice, but it’s much cheaper than real satin,” Adam explained, and the young lady was shocked.

“Nice,” Nathan laughed, he turned to his client, “I’m sorry, Miss Simon, I was testing this boy. You know I’m an honest man, right? Clark will get you the real satin now.”

He then had Clark to serve the client. And he took Adam into each of the stockroom, asking him about color and texture matching, styling and designing. The little boy’s knowledge and fashion sense blew the greatest tailor away.

“What’s your name, son?”

“Adam, sir.”

“Adam, where’re your parents?”

“They – ” Adam was surprised that Nathan did not recognize him at all, he struggled a little before lying about his origin, “They passed away when I was 3. I… I just escaped from my foster family… Please don’t kick me out! They’ll kill me… They’ve been starving me…” Deceptive tears poured from Adam’s eyes, for the most ridiculous lie he had ever told in his life.

“Ok, boy, don’t cry or people may think I hit you,” Nathan petted on Adam’s shoulder, he said, “but I’ll only offer you a shelter and meals. You may start earning your own money when you grow up and are able to work in the store. Will that be okay?” He asked, but before Adam nodded, he had already signaled the old lady, Dorothy, to take Adam back to the house. Adam’s life as a domestic helper, or more accurately a servant or a slave, began.

 

***

The Ricci’s house was glamorous and huge like a castle. Adam followed Dorothy, walked passed a hallway after another, he clutched the grandma’s hand tight, lest he might get lost.

“Miss Dorothy, is this Mrs. Ricci?” In the hallway, Adam pointed at the beautiful young woman in the Ricci’s family portrait, with long dark brown hair and very beautiful locks, “She is beautiful…” There were 4 of them in the picture, Mr. and Mrs. Ricci, a young man and a little girl.

“Yes. Let’s go quickly,” Dorothy said, pulling Adam forward, “Don’t stay here, understand? Luckily Madam is in Europe, or she may beat you up.”

“Why?”

“She is… never mind, just remember don’t get into the house unless you have to work,” Dorothy explained, Adam nodded, and she dragged him forward, “Come quickly.”

Farther into the house area was a big garden. A humble white brick hut stood at the other end of the green garden. The front of the hut was a peeling wooden door, the locks had been broken for years. Parts of the wall had deteriorated, leaving some room for the climber plants to grow strong. It did look beautiful with all the green leaves climbing around the hut, but during rainy season, water would definitely leak through the gaps.

In the hut, there was not many furniture: the living room was the largest area, with a big square wooden table and eight wooden chairs, a naked light bulb hung from the ceiling. To the right of the living room was a small bathroom, there was no door, only a cotton curtain was hanging on the doorframe to keep it more private.

“You want to use the bathroom?” Dorothy asked as she saw the boy was staring at the bathroom, when the boy had shaken his head, she led him the bedroom, which was right next to the bathroom. Ten beds and an unpainted wooden shelf for the dwellers to store their belongings took up most of the space, allowed only enough space to pass by. Dorothy led Adam to his bed, “You’ll be sleeping here. My room is over there, opposite to this room. You can come to me when you have any problem.”

Adam could not believe what he saw, he was going to spend his remaining life in this place, with a dozen of old ladies, in a dark and tiny room. He was afraid, not because of the elderly, he was just scared… How was the job of a domestic helper? What if he did it wrong? What if he was sick? And cold? And hungry?... He missed his dad, he missed his bed, he missed the hot soup… Finally, he cried.

“Aww… poor thing.” Dorothy’s voice suddenly was at his ear. Adam did not know when he had fallen into her arms, right now, he just wanted to cry out loud and snuggle to this kind grandma like a normal child.

“Adam, let’s go to the kitchen. I’ll get you some puddings,” she rubbed on Adam’s tears, “Don’t tell anyone you’ve tried the puddings before our guests.”

 

***

Dorothy, the housekeeper, was a 70-year-old woman and the grandmother of three boys. All of her grandsons were young adults already, perhaps that was why she treated Adam so good. She was a little chubby but in a good and healthy way. Adam loved to snuggle in Dorothy’s warm and soft embrace after a day of rough working, sometimes, he wept like a baby when Dorothy put her arms around him. Kind Dorothy then assigned Adam to work in the kitchen, so that she could feed him well.

Though she took as much care as she could to the little boy, working in the Ricci’s house was not easy at all. Adam was bullied by Clark, Nathan’s favourite student and the man he had an argument with in the store. When Dorothy was not around, Clark made him to scrub the floor and windows, clean the cars and the bathrooms; and commanding Adam to mop the dogs’ excrement and urine was the way he celebrated his 14th birthday.

Everyone knew Clark was jealous of Adam somehow, but that was too unnecessary. Adam was only a boy, and a helper. No matter how great he was, he could not replace Clark’s position, at least not in the near future.

But to Clark, he was a competition. From time to time, Nathan would ask Adam to take lunchboxes to the store. However, recently Nathan would show Adam around the sewing room, teaching him how to sew and make paper patterns, and Adam seemed to manage the skills unusually fast.  

Despite the hate from Clark, Adam would go to house whenever Nathan requested. In contrast, Adam did not care much about Clark, he was only a pathetic man who was jealous of a boy that was 10 years younger. The thing was, he was now closer to the truth behind Roland’s sewing machine accident, and he believed that he was on his way to get back Roland’s business.

One night, he left Nathan’s bedroom after a long talk. In the hallway, he heard some really strange noise: someone was sobbing, or weeping, or something like that. He walked towards the sound –

“You pederast!” Clark’s voice came out from the back of the door, the plate on the door read ‘ _Travis_ ’.

“I thought you loved it.” Another man in the room said, “You know I’ve missed you so bad when I’m in France.”

“You haven’t changed, Travis Ricci. Strong and wild as always.” Clark’s voice was extremely creepy to Adam’s ears, that was the highest tone he had ever heard. “Now you better deliver on your promise, or I’ll kick your ass back to France before your vacation ends.” Clark said. It was inappropriate much to overhear till here, Adam turned on his tip toes.

“That _Adam_ kid, I don’t like him. Kick him out.” Adam froze as Clark yelled his name.

“Oh, damn it. Not again. That’s just a kid.” Travis replied, sounded annoyed.

“I don’t care. I just want him to leave right fucking now!” Clark howled as though Adam had killed his parents.

“I guess someone’s bitter against the one and only blonde boy in the house. Is he cute?”

“Shut up! I swear I saw his red hair yesterday and he suddenly turned blonde in the evening. He’s the devil’s child.”

So, his identity was exposed… Adam pressed his ear on the door, his legs were too shaky that he had to lean his weight on the door for support.

“Devil’s child? Come on! A kid is a kid.” Travis giggled, “Imma shout your jealous mouth with my dick.”

“Don’t touch me! If you don’t kick him out, I’m quitting,” Clark replied angrily.

“Quit what? Me, or the job?” Travis was still giggling mockingly.

“Damn you!” Clark’s voice was abruptly so close to Adam’s ear –

“OH MY GOD!” Clark screamed as Adam felling onto his chest when he opened the door. “You – You…”

Both of them had their eyes and lips flew open, and they dropped backwards in shock.

The teen could not process what he saw: the effeminate man’s naked body was covered with an open bathrobe. Adam swallowed and squeezed a blink before he moved his eyes to the nude male figure behind. He had seen this man in the Ricci’s family portrait. The young master was wearing an amused grin on his bearded face. Just when he saw the scared look on the teen’s face, he covered his belly and laughed out loud.

 “I – I –I’m–  sorry… I – SORRY!” Adam lost his words, he pushed up and set off a run immediately.

“HEY! ADAM! COME BACK! WHY SO FAST? NICE TO MEET YOU!”

Travis’s voice haunted the quiet night hallway. Adam sped up, running for his life like there was no tomorrow.

 

~ End of Chapter 1 ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos/ comments if you like this :3  
> Your support is my fuel. 
> 
> Find me on Twitter: @BulgieLuvsMe  
> xoxo


	2. Lone War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam’s life as an apprentice in the daytime was rough. Every minute snailed by as though it would never end. Most students there were young adults from lower-middle class families, Clark was wealthiest. Whether or not they disliked Clark’s mean personality, the peers admired him and followed him around. They were very eager to join Clark’s game on bullying the few poor fellows – isolating them, nicknaming them, talking bad about them… whatever nasty and childish tricks one could name. Of course, Adam, the penniless orphan who could not even afford a piece of bread, was victimized the most.
> 
> Clark would never let Adam had a peaceful day. He had thrown the teen’s lunchbox to the dogs for a few times. The other day after Nathan’s compliment on the teen’s works, Clark and the gang locked him up in the 10-feet square room where 2 vicious guard dogs lived. Terrified Adam almost broke all his nails climbing up to escape from the dogs bite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this chapter was a complicated emtional roller coaster to me, as a bullying victim for a whole 8 years.  
> This chapter tells how important adults' support is in teens bullying T_T Wish no more lone wars for teens...  
> 

From then on, Clark and his followers ganged up on the innocent teenager. Nathan in fact had learnt that Clark had loathed Adam from their first encounter, but he just pretended to know nothing. Anyway, Nathan just did not want to get involved into the “kids’ fight”. To compensate the rough time he had, he tried to treat the teenage boy better.

On Adam’s 15th birthday, Nathan gave him the most enviable gift – a _promotion_ , from a domestic helper to a tailoring apprentice. Adam could foresee more hate on him at the time he took his first step into the apprentices’ sewing room – the chatter, the laughter, the noise, all died suddenly as they saw the new, very young fellow. To avoid more quarrels, Adam rejected to stay in the dormitory with them and preferred to stay where he used to be. 

Adam’s life as an apprentice in the daytime was rough. Every minute snailed by as though it would never end. Most students there were young adults from lower-middle class families, Clark was wealthiest. Whether or not they disliked Clark’s mean personality, the peers admired him and followed him around. They were very eager to join Clark’s game on bullying the few poor fellows – isolating them, nicknaming them, talking bad about them… whatever nasty and childish tricks one could name. Of course, Adam, the penniless orphan who could not even afford a piece of bread, was victimized the most.

Clark would never let Adam had a peaceful day. He had thrown the teen’s lunchbox to the dogs for a few times. The other day after Nathan’s compliment on the teen’s works, Clark and the gang locked him up in the 10-feet square room where 2 vicious guard dogs lived. Terrified Adam almost broke all his nails climbing up to escape from the dogs bite.

Besides Adam’s innate talent and fashion sense, his face might also be a reason that Clark’s dislike had rapidly turned to hatred and bitterness. This little gentleman’s face definitely caught everyone’s attention – his eye shined like two light blue-grey gems; his well-sculptured facial bone began to show under his tender skin; those freckly lips were plump and soft and always radiating a healthy red. As ridiculous as it sounded, Clark, the very effeminate 25-year-old humiliated the teen for being _“_ _androgynous”_.

In contrast, at night when Adam got back to where he lived with the old ladies, he felt like home. For the teenage boy’s privacy, the grandmas chipped in for a new bathroom door. Among all the places in the Ricci’s house, Adam loved to spend his time in the kitchen. He helped cook soup, bake cakes, make puddings, and grill stakes. He enjoyed the quality time there with all the kind grannies, especially Dorothy who treated him like her real grandchild.

Of course besides the food, the abundant supply of lemon was a reason why Adam wandered in the kitchen a lot. Also, whenever Travis Ricci was back home from Europe, the kitchen was the final refuge from him.  

***

Despite Adam’s great control on emotion, it made him furious sometimes to hear his peers talked about him at his back, about how beautiful he was. Growing up being mortified all the time, Adam was somehow unsure of his real gender. Was he really a boy like he had been believing? He did not like his body much.

It never rained but it poured, his self-image deteriorated to the bottom later when the member between his thighs started to make troubles. It burnt and ached, getting him twisted and turned in bed, he had lost him his sleep for weeks. If he lay flat, it protruded through the blanket; if he turned to his side, he feared the hardened stuff would be cramped to break. When he finally got some uninterrupted sleep, he would only to find he had wet his bed in the morning.

The grandmas had taught him how to deal with his facial hair. But no matter how caring and loving they were, Adam knew _that_ was a very private part of a boy and he should not let them witness it. Reluctantly, he consulted a doctor client, and unfortunately the professionally opinions came as a thunderbolt.

 _“I’m fine… I’ll be fine…”_ the distraught teen convinced himself that it was not fatal. He compelled himself to focus on seaming the skirt he needed for the quiz the next day… Abruptly –

“WHAAAAT!” Adam screamed as someone pulled his the legs of his pants up. Luckily, his hands were fast enough to escape from the sewing machine. But, the skirt was ruined.

“Do you shave your legs, honey?”  The gang began scoffing of the boy’s hairless legs, jeering in excitement as he hugged the skirt and looked startled.

“Awww… honey, come here, I’ll buy you a new skirt.”

“AHHHHHH!” Howling and bawling, Adam grabbed a pair of scissors and plunged towards the men, but he was still too weak for the fully grown men’s grips. His weapon was soon confiscated, and his arms were locked to his back. “LET GO! I HATE YOU! I’LL KILL YOU!” Adam yelled at Clark, who had a slight sneer curling up his mouth. What Clark had been doing to him were irrevocably beyond Adam’s forgiveness.

“I’m so scared,” a man mocked, waving the scissors at the struggling teen’s face; another man rolled his pants up again, teasing at the slender legs, “Look at these lady legs–”

“What the fuck is going on here? The customers can all hear you!” The oldest tailor, Jerome, burst the door open and silent everyone in the room. He spotted the ruined skirt in one of the students’ hands, and immediately took it over. “Got nothing constructive to do? GET THE FUCK BACK TO WORK YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!” In a second, he swept past and pulled the crying boy back to the senior tailors’ sewing room.

The setting of the room had not changed at all, only the used-to-be lavender wall had turned a bit yellowish through time. The table where Roland used to be working at was left vacant, covered by piles of paper and rolls of fabric. “Don’t cry, boy. It’s only a seam line. It can be fixed,” Jerome said, patting on the boy’s head.

Adam stared at Jerome, recalling his cigarette ashes dropped on top of his head when marking his height on the door, _“Don’t cry boy. It’s only some ashes.”_ This grandpa hadn’t changed much – skinny, pointy face, pale skin, with a pair of round spectacles that dropped to the middle of his long nose. Time did add some more wrinkles to his face, his hair was now all snowy.

“Clark’s such an asshole, isn’t he? If it’s not Travis, people would have beaten him up,” Jerome remarked while fixing the skirt, he took a note on Adam’s confused face, “The young master, another asshole. Every time he came back, he just sleeps in the day and hunts in the night with Clark. They’re the reason why I never let my daughter out after dark.”

Adam giggled at Jerome’s language, “Clark forbids me from seeing him. He said he’ll kill me if I do.”

“You better not know such a being. He’ll corrupt you.” Jerome gazed at the smiling boy and said, “You really look like a kid I know. His name’s Adam too.”

“Huh?” Adam raised his brows.

“He didn’t like to talk, but he had an adorable smile like yours. When he smiles at you, you feel the world’s smiling.”

“Really? Is he… your neighbor?” Adam asked knowingly, his eyes twinkled. He wanted to hear more, after all this tough life, he had almost forgotten that he used to be a precious of everyone around him.

“No, he’s the son of the greatest tailor and designer. Adam’s as talented as you. If he’s still here, you two could be the best friends,” he giggled, removing the wrong seam carefully.

“He left the marks on the doorframe, right?” Adam hesitated, “I – I mean, those marks look like when kids measuring their heights…”

“Yes! His dad marked it half a year, with my cigarettes. Once the ashes dropped on his head, he just WAAAAH, and cried!” Jerome pointed at another grandpa in the room, “That old thing gave him paper and color pencils, and he’s quieted!”

Yes… Now he started to remember. He used to play with each and everyone here. It was a shame that he could not recognize any of their faces but Jerome’s.

“Boy, it’s fixed,” Jerome gave Adam back his skirt, “Finish it here. Use my table.”  He stroked over Adam’s fluffy hair. Step by step, patiently, he guided Adam to polish his work.

An hour later, the skirt was done, sleekly, flawlessly. “I can see you being the top designer in few years. What I’ve taught you were sewing skills, which can be acquired through time. But your talent and taste is innate, that’s what we all old fools here lack.”

Adam smiled, hesitantly. _Few years?_ “Actually… I don’t know if it’s my last month…” Adam muttered and confused Jerome, “Doctor White said… I have a tumor…”

“Oh… that’s not good… Where? Can it be removed?” Jerome asked with concern.

Adam cleared his throat before he went on, “Down there… Every night… It just… swells, hard and stingy… and the next morning I wet my bed… some white sticky stuff…” His hands closed convulsively in his laps.

Unexpectedly, Jerome’s lips stretched outwards, “That’s a funny tumor.” He seemed not to treat the boy’s problem seriously. “How big did it get?”

“Like… this…” Adam showed it with a ruler –

“HAHAHAHAHAAAHAAA!”

“Why are you laughing?” Adam could not believe how Jerome reacted, “I am serious!” Losing his temper, Adam punched hard on the table and made Jerome stifle all his sniggers. “He said if I don’t get it removed, I’m dying in three months!” The teen’s face was so agonized but the grandpa just could not stop laughing till tears dropped down of the corners of his eyes. Adam’s hands flung to his hair desperately, “I have no money for the surgery! I’m dying!”

“Boy… That’s… that’s a joke… oh… GOD…” Jerome spoke between his laughs.

“I said I’m serious! I’m scared! I’m not ready to die!” He stomped his feet on the floor, going hysterical.

“Why are you dying, son?” asked another grandpa in the room.

“His dick stands up every night and it’s THIS HUGE! He thought it’s a tumor! Doctor White wanna chop it off!” Jerome got choked by his laughs. At that moment, the room was shaking with deafening laughter and even applause… Adam was so confused…

“Don’t panic. Every man erects. You’re becoming a real man, little buddy! You should be scared if you don’t.”

“My dick could still stand up and strut 20 years ago!”

“Boy, look!” A grandpa picked up a pencil and started to rub up and down on it, “Moisten it, rub it till it _BOOM_ , and you’ll feel relieved. This is called mas-tur-ba-ting.”

“Do it in the bathroom, or you’re gonna kill the old ladies there.”

“When you have a girlfriend, we’ll teach you how to make babies. Right now, just go practice masturbating.”

The informal sex tutorial continued until dinner time. The growing boy now had got all the information he needed. But he felt his head was going to explode… Every vein of his was bouncing, heated up every inch of his skin… flushing red from his neck to the top of his head…

***

After years of solid training, Adam, overshadowing Clark, became the most sought after apprentices in Ricci Fine Tailoring. Other than helping in measuring and fitting, all apprentices could only handle the cheapest orders, while all the earnings would be pocketed by the boss.

The same spring when he was 19, he got his first booking from the upper society, and his first paid job ever. The Mayor wanted to gift his nephew the finest suit, and to a lot of people’s surprise, out of all the tailors in town, Adam was picked.

Striding after the housemaid excitedly, Adam was fascinated by everything in the Mayor’s house. The curious boy had already forgotten what Nathan had warned him repeatedly that morning _: “You should be on your best behavior. The Mayor has as much bad temper as his fortune.”_ He thumbed through a book on the bookshelf with navy leather cover–

“DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING!” the housemaid yelped, Adam jumped and almost shoved the antique vase off the shelf.

“STAY HERE, I’LL CALL YOU WHEN MR. KOSKINEN IS READY.” Adam’s body froze in her ferocious yell, he nodded and stood blinking –

“COME UPSTAIRS!” Adam defrosted and gave a huge jump, right after his feet hit the ground, he dashed upstairs to Mr. Koskinen’s room.

He stepped into the bedroom extra carefully. His nose worked before his other senses – the smell of sunshine and nature came all the way in from the garden, through the large window. The room was very bright and spacious, with a nice balance with warm color palette and matched with all wooden furniture and the brown brick wall. The king-size bed could not look any cozier. Everything just left him stunned.

Next to the large windows was a small tea table, on the brown leather couch beside it sitting a tiny, well-groomed blonde boy with both of his feet on the footstool. This boy had probably been staring at Adam since the very beginning –

“Sir,” the housemaid greeted, “This is the tailor from Ricci Fine Tailoring.”

“Good – Good afternoon, Mr. Koskinen…” Adam bowed. He stumbled, perhaps for Koskinen was the richest client he had had.

Koskinen smiled, “Call me Sauli.” He got to his feet and asked with a very exotic accent, “What are we doing now, Mr. Tailor?”

“We’ll do the measuring, then discuss about the design,” Adam explained, as he did, he paced foward, and he paused at a 2-feet distance – he became aware of how pretty his client was. Sauli was younger than him, but surely not by many years. His skin was slightly toasted, glowing a healthy, honey tone. His softly curved eyebrow made a great contrast with his high cheekbones and strong jawline. Those glorious blue eyes were definitely foreign.

Adam swallowed, “Please turn to your back...” He decided to take a short break from those enchanting eyes by measuring his shoulder width and arm length first.

Sauli was really tiny even with his hair all stood up on his head. Such a height was really cute… _“STOP IT! That’s inappropriate!”_ Adam got a strike from his sense of guilt. But seriously, this tiny boy was too lovely –

Sauli suddenly turned back, “Finished my shoulders and arms?” He asked. Adam’s stomach grew tight in the beam of the ocean-like eyes. Then Sauli turned at the housemaid and said, “You may leave now.”

“But sir –”

“I’ll talk to uncle if he blames you. Leave,” he commanded. Before she left, there was a pause as she looked upon Sauli’s disobedience.

“Now the neck?” Sauli asked.

“Yes, sir,” Adam’s eyes were flashing. Gently he wrapped the measuring tape around the tiny neck. He had been staring at the naked skin under the open collar until Sauli swallowed. There Adam cleared his throat, “Raise your arms, please.” 

Sauli then raised his arms a little and let Adam measure his chest and waist. The blushing tailor took a deep breath, holding the tape, his left hand passed Sauli’s underarm to his back, the warmth through the fabric was truly addictive… Slowly, he reached out his right hand and leant closer to the tiny blonde –

“UGH…” Adam’s moan choked at the back of his throat. He could only remember a pair of blue eyes an inch before him and the next second he was into Sauli’s arms. Adam was petrified, his heart was throbbing in his chest.

“Why are you so scared?” The tiny blonde muttered under his breath, brushing his lips at Adam’s earlobe.

“I –” losing his words, immediately, Adam pulled back and resumed his work. He tried hard to ignore Sauli’s provocative gaze and with his top speed, he finished whole measuring process. “Let’s talk about the design, Mr. Koskinen – ”

“SOW-LI,” he cut Adam, “I don’t know about design. What do you think?” He stepped forward and made Adam, who was almost a feet taller, paced 2 steps backwards.

“You – You –” Adam stammered, it was hard to control his body from shaking, “You have tan and glowing skin – so –”

“Black, I like black. And I like your color block shirt. But Finland is cold, I need long sleeves,” Sauli pointed at Adam’s notebook, ordering him to jot it down bossily, “And a swallow tail coat, my father has a nice one.”

 _“A swallow tail coat? Serious?”_ He thought, frowned at the young boy’s too-mature fashion taste.

“Doctor White said you’re the most professional and trustworthy. Are you mocking me now?”

“No, sir!” Adam said hurriedly.

Sauli did not seem to be angry for real. He giggled and muttered some foreign tongue that Adam waited for him to repeat it. “Now sketch the design. I want to see.” Sauli sat down on the couch and signaled Adam to sit next to him.

Adam looked pell-mell into his bag for the sketch book and pencil, he usually had everything neatly in his bag but this afternoon everything hid itself somewhere…

The attractive customer bent closer at times to check out the sketch, arousing an unexpected physical response. He had never been this unprofessional…

“Lovely,” Sauli was happy about the design – a 3-piece suit with a shirt, a double-breast waist coat and a tailcoat with shapely and tight fitting. Rather than paralleling to the waist, the design of the front of the coat angled upwards, towards the waist and the tail, to visually elongate the length of his legs. “Can’t wait to wear it at my birthday party. I’m turning 16.”

“I’m glad you like it, Mr… Sauli… and happy birthday…” Adam’s voice faltered at Sauli’s sweet smile, “I promise I’ll give you the best suit–”

“Adam,” Sauli did not let Adam finish his line, “Have you a girlfriend? No? A boyfriend? I guess you’ve never kissed someone, yes?”

“Errr…” Adam swallowed and stammered the answer, “A client… she suddenly grabbed me and pulled me forward –” No more words were allowed, his lips were shut by Sauli’s. Sauli pressed his lips on Adam’s for a good 3 seconds and asked, “Like this?” His hands seized still on Adam’s collar.

Adam nodded with his stiff face, watching Sauli mounted his laps. “Close your eyes,” Sauli commanded, Adam complied.

Sauli caught Adam’s jaw and lifted his face up, placing a kiss after another on his lips. The kisses overwhelmed both teenage boys. Adam felt his soul was seized up and about to float away. He squeezed the tiny boy on top of him to steady himself. Gently, he puckered his lips to kiss back.

So many emotions were running inside them, so much curiosity, need and satisfaction. Their breathing burnt on each other’s face, short and quick; breaths gradually turned into hums and their light groans blended with each other’s. The boys enjoyed the closeness, snuggling close to each other, their torso rubbed together –

“Hmm?” With a groan, their eyes snapped open. Something had intruded themselves into the boys’ affectionate moment. They pulled slightly apart, their lips still connected, but trembling. That was their first time feeling another boy’s erection, on their own erection.

Reluctantly, Sauli pulled away from Adam’s lips, “Now… what to do?...”

“I don’t know – ”

“Why don’t you know – ”

“Why should I know –”

“You’re older – ”

“But you seem more experienced!”

The boys’ first kissing experiment ended with a little fight. They were sort of embarrassed about moving to the next level, and they actually had no idea how to. Flipping agilely back down to the couch, Sauli’s cheeks suddenly flushed a rosy red. After a minute of deadly silence, Adam stood up to leave.

“ADAM!” Sauli dashed forward, he spread his arms and blocked in front of Adam, “Come back in 3 days… help me with the fitting, okay?” Though it was a request, his tone was still a bit bossy.

“3 days? It’s rather demanding.” Adam explained, “Usually it takes –”

“We’re going back to Finland the day after!” He grabbed Adam’s hands, and rubbed, “3 days… Please…”

“Yes, of course.” Spontaneously, Adam opened his arms and Sauli snuggled to his chest. One last kiss, the boys parted.

***

Adam started to make the paper pattern right away, putting all his other orders aside. Thinking of Sauli grinning brightly, waving at him at the window, he could not help giggling. He had seen hundreds of clients by far, locals and tourists, but there had never been someone like Sauli, so pretty, their magical first encounter etched in his memory.

Cutting, sewing and ironing for, perhaps, a few hours, the shirt and the waistcoat were done. “Uuuugh…” In front of the mannequin, Adam stretched his stiff back and groaned. No wonder his eyes were burning dry, it was already 2 in the morning. His empty stomach did not complain until this moment.

With his sore limbs, he limped back to the hut. Back in the Ricci’s house, exhausted Adam did not bother to waste his energy to fight with Clark as he passed by and dropped the nasty “Happy with today’s deal? I wish it’s your last one,” comment. “Geez, go to sleep!” Adam replied gruffly.

The hut had been asleep, the light leaked through the door gaps of Dorothy’s room lit up a few tiles the inky darkness.

 _Knock, knock._ “Gran? Are you awake?” Adam whispered, lest he might wake the others up.

“Adam? Yes, come in.”

Slowly, Adam opened the door and tip-toed into the room. “Gran,” he whispered even more softly, but the happiness in his voice was obvious, “I have something to tell you, a secret.” He sat next to the grandma, but she still had her face turned to the other side, busy fixing her hair into the nightcap as she asked the boy, “What’s it?”

“I saw someone today, so lovely… so unforgettable. I think… I’m in love…” the boy muttered, his fingers scrabbling on his laps unconsciously, “And… we kissed…”

“That’s good, my boy,” finally she turned at the boy and cupped his cute face, “You deserved to be loved. I’ve been telling you how nice you are, haven’t I?” A triumphant smile split her face. As Adam looked up at her, he found the moist trapped in the wrinkles on her cheeks and the unreasonable puffiness around her eyes.

“Why? What happened?” Adam wiped his thumbs on Dorothy’s almost dried tears, while she just denied she had been crying. “Gran, you can’t lie to me!”

“Don’t call me gran, I’m not your real grandmother,” she said firmly and shoved his hands away. Adam’s hands dropped to his sides, his shoulders and back relaxed and bent lower. Even in the gloom, Dorothy could see tears the sorrow in the boy’s eyes, her words had hurt him. “I’m sorry, Adam…” Fat tears poured down her eyes, “I didn’t mean that… I’d die to exchange for a grandson like you… why couldn’t Sean be good like you?...”

So, Adam learnt that Dorothy’s grandson, Sean, was addicted to drugs, something that was extremely expensive and hazard. Sean came and asked her for money from time to time. He first lied about the money was for his studies, and later he started stealing her money and pawning her stuff.

“He can’t do this to you! Let me talk to him,” Adam said angrily. Dorothy rejected. Not only because her grandson would not listen to a teen, also, it was too unfair to get Adam involved in such a complicated situation.

“Sean’s been borrowing money from Clark… and Clark just told me… Sean’s taken 1 thousand worth of cocaine from him… Now he asks me for 2 thousand dollar… I can’t pay that loan even if I pawn my old life…” She completely broke down. She kept punching on her chest and wept. “Why my little boy became like this?... 30 years ago… I held this tiny little baby on my palms…”

Adam had no idea what to say, he had never seen Dorothy anguished. He wrapped her tight in place in his arms, so to stop her from beating herself. He patted on her back till she quieted down. “Gran, I will have my first salary in 3 days. Don’t worry. I’ll help.” This teen obviously did not know how many cars he could buy with a thousand dollar, his expression was too adorable that finally, a smile was back on Dorothy’s face.

Making sure Dorothy was fast asleep, Adam sprinted back to the house to look for Clark. “That rat.” He ground his teeth in anger. If only he knew Clark had just threatened Dorothy, he would have beaten him up in the house. He already knew where to find him: he remembered seeing Clark heading to the second floor.

Powerful hatred went on swelling in his stomach. He might get sacked for wandering in the house in the middle of the night, whatever. It was not difficult at all to locate him, for the noise of a party was so audible from the far end of the hallway.

 _BOOM BOOM BOOM_. “Clark! Open up!” _BOOM BOOM BOOM_. “Clark!” Adam banged sulkily on the door, but the people inside seemed not to hear. He tried the door and found it was not locked. Inside was a bedroom decorated in cream and gold color, tacky and messy.

For all the Ricci family’s good name and reputation, what was then happening in the room was not very desirable. There were around 15 middle aged men, it was as noisy as the street during the peak hours. Some collapsed on the floor, while the sober ones were laughing, shouting like they were having fun with themselves. Adam glanced through the crowd, luckily, of Clark there was no sign, he could leave this uncomfortable place –

“Here comes our little fairy!” Abruptly, a man threw his arms around Adam’s middle and yelled, “SMELLS NICE!” This man looked so disgusting with white powder under his nose mixed with thick snot. The more Adam was struggling to get rid of his grip, the more aggressive he got.

One hard elbow strike at the creepy man’s neck, Adam was freed and he rushed towards the door which was right before him, but a second later, something strapped around his neck and he was yanked backwards.

“HEEELP…” Adam grabbed at the doorframe, terror tore at his heart as he knew exactly he would not be able to leave, or he would break his neck and die before passing through the door.

“Poor boy, let me help.” Two men held Adam’s waist and gave a rough pull. Adam finally lost his grip. A muscle man then threw the young boy over his shoulder, and tossed him to the ground. The boy dropped headfirst, whimpering in pain…

When the world stopped spinning, Adam started to notice he was then in the middle of the room, surrounded. Instead of feeling unwelcome like Clark’s gang had always made him feel, he sense life threatening danger.

“Cute, a bit bigger than expected though.” Stepping ahead of the crowd was a man with dark brown hair that curled unruly on his head. It was Travis, the young master of the house. Despite his early-30s age, he looked much older than he was. In his hands was a chain that attached to the strap on Adam’s neck. Adam realized it was a dog collar on him.

“I heard someone was looking for Clark? Was it you?” Travis asked with a frown.

“Yes, sir –” it took a lot of swallowing to get the saliva back into his throat, “He’s not here so I’m leaving,” he explained.  “I – I’m sorry,” Adam involuntarily stammered an apology when Travis paced in his direction, and the others followed, sinking him into the shadows.

“I am sorry, sir… I shouldn’t have interrupted your party…” He muttered, elbowing backwards. Tears came and blurred the figures in front of him. He pulled himself up from the ground and was halfway to stand straight when Travis kicked on his stomach and slapped savagely on his face. He fell down again.

The sudden struck brought ringing in Adam’s ears. Vaguely, someone seized him up by the dog collar and the next moment he was tilting forward, landed on a soft surface. He gasped and opened his eyes, trying to shove off the man on top of him –

“Damn you!” _SLAP_ , “What the fuck are you pretending?”, _SLAP_ , “You slut!” _SLAAP_. The ringing in his ears grew deafening, and the room was dissolving in a whirl of dark color… He felt his hands were placed to the bedstead, and he heard the crowd cheered excitedly. A tongue invaded through his lips, bumping inside his mouth. Disgusted, but the dizziness was holding him paralyzed. He could merely frown and blacked out.

Not knowing how long he had fainted, when he finally gained back his conscious, his shirt was torn and his undershirt was nowhere to be seen. A naked man lay between his spread, bare legs, sucking on his nipple. “Ugh…” And he found his hands were cuffed to the bed.

To show his disapproval, Adam arched his back, trying to buck Travis off. But the tease on his chest continued, and shifted to the other side. The young master cupped his right nipple with his lips, with his tongue he licked and tickled on it expertly.

The moving tongue felt very weird. “Get off me…” Adam whimpered, his face and neck were burning with shame. Travis only gripped him harder as he struggled to get free, his mouth pulling and dragging the sensitive tip deep into his mouth. “NO! STOP IT!...” It started to hurt.

Travis pushed up and smiled, “You actually liked it, little whore.” He rolled the nipples between his fingers, rubbing and pinching. Adam shook his head to deny, a drop of tear escaped from his eye as he did. A loud kiss after another dropped on his both nipples, arousing the crowd to call for more erotic tease. It embarrassed the helpless teen even more to see his nipples were hard and responsive to the assault.

A spark of pain ran down to his spine as Travis squeezed on the peaked tips and pulled them up. “Cute nipples,” he smirked, “Let’s see your pink cock.” His hands laid on Adam’s knees and traced the long line up to his thighs, “Nice, has Clark made you shave your legs?” With that he palmed on both sides of Adam’s hip, digging his fingers into the waistband of his brief.  “Did he make you shave your baby cock?”

Adam did not understand his words. His instinct told him to curl his legs up and glued them together to protect the last piece of cloth on his body.

“Don’t test my patience – ” Adam wriggled and kicked Travis in the crotch. Travis’s face instantly flushed a furious purple. He seized under Adam’s jaw, “You want it rough, huh?”

“I’m sorry… ” Adam sobbed his apology. His body shook violently, imagining what evil things Travis would do with the belt in his hands. “I’m sorry… Don’t do that… DON’T –”

The leather belt slapped hard on Adam’s skin under his armpit, the pink mark turned crimson immediately. “I’M SORRY… I WAS WRONG…” He bawled, his sincere apologies would not save him from the pain. “AHHH!” This time the belt hit on the other side, and then it randomly hit on his chest, waist and stomach, till there was no more good flesh could be seen on his torso. His delicate skin almost split when the belt hit on the side of his hip.

Apparently, Adam’s cries had been arousing, getting to know the abuse was taking place, those who collapsed on the ground woke up and joint the audience. Some came assisting in pulling his legs straight. Soon the very last bit of his dignity was sliding down his legs, Adam yelled and squirmed hysterically.

“Impressive.” The cock that was lying limply on his palm was oversized, pale and freckly. Travis pulled and flipped the sobbing boy’s cock and fingered on the hair with another hand. The hair was silky fine and thin that made no much difference from a bald cock. “It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. But still,” he snapped his fingers, and automatically the crowd passed him a razor, “you need a shave.”

“WHAAA –” Screams gagged at the back of his throat when the cold blades landed on his lower belly.

“Hold him very still,” the razor pulled downwards, “I don’t wanna cut on this lovely cock,” Travis muttered, his breath burned on the freshly shaved skin.  Adam squeezed his eyes shut, weeping in embarrassment. The razor brushed across his groin several times, till he was completely bare.

“Now let’s clear your fuck hole.” Travis pushed the boy’s legs up, started to remove the little hair near his anus and made him whine like a dying puppy.

“Good boy,” he tapped on the boy’s knees, “it’s over.”

 _IT’S OVER. FINALLY._ The men let go of his legs, Adam exhaled in relief. He looked around, “Let me go… please… please…” None seemed to care, all were talking about how beautiful the naked teen was, how much they wanted to be in Travis’s position.

“If only I had the money, I’d have fucked him right here.”

What money? Why had not they released him already? “Why… why…” The men spread his legs wide, opened up the way for the young master to go between again. “You said it’s over…” Adam’s teeth shuddered.

With a smirk, Travis clasped his fists around the cock, started to rub up and down in a rhythmic movement. “WHAT YOU DOING?” Adam yelled, but the rhythm only sped up. Despite the revolt of the passive masturbation, the physical reaction was out of his control, blood flowing recklessly, filling up his cock in the abuser’s hands.

“See? Told you all he’s a slut,” Travis licked his lips, bent forward –

“AHHHHH WHAAAAT…” It scared Adam to death to see his cock was eaten. Travis closed his lips around the cockhead, and half of the cock sank into his mouth. Trying to get rid of the grip, he wriggled his hips around. “STOP THAAAT… STOOOP…” Adam screamed, kicked and clamped his legs. It just should not be there in someone else’s oral…  Crazy tears streamed down his cheeks.

The tongue swirled around his cockhead, lathering it with thick saliva. It sent shiver to the teen’s spine when Travis pointed his tongue and scratched at the slit on the back of the cockhead. He pulled half of the cock out and sucked it back into his mouth again repeatedly, swallowing it deeper to the back of his throat every time he sucked it back in.

Even the victim himself could feel his cock was fully erected and pulsating on the abuser’s tongue. Fresh juice kept leaking with the pumping hands on the cock base, and was all drank by the next second. Intentionally, Travis slurped the huge cock loudly. Even in the noisy room, the sound he was savoring the young boy’s cock was enormous.

Waited and waited, that the assault was going to end soon seemed a mindless hope. Adam had lost his strength to struggle, even his face was sore from screaming and crying. He turned his head to the side, buried his face in his arm, whining in unbearable shame.

“Hmmm,” pulling the cock out of his mouth, Travis talked to the audience, “He’s so delicious.” The crowd moaned bitterly. “Such a pretentious slut he is,” his hands kept rubbing fast at the cock base, pumping fresh stream of pre-cum up to the tip, the juice ran down the length of the cock and coated his hands, “Look who’s cumming like a river.”

It almost scared Adam to hell when the audience asked for a taste of him, Travis rejected, “But I approve some hands on him.” Without a warning, hands were all over him, from head to toes, words praising the softness and youthfulness of his skin filled his ears that he could not even hear his own cries. A few aggressive ones hoisted his legs up and folded them to his chest –

“No one touches his ass!” Travis yelped.

Now his most private part was exposed to the world’s eyes. Adam whimpered and clenched his cheeks defensively. People watched his buttocks clenched, all attention was on the teen’s firm and plump bottom.

Travis teased his fingers along the crack, sliding up and down, “Open your eyes and have a look,” he grabbed both cheeks and spread them open, “Look at your own fuck hole. Haven’t seen such a cute hole in my life.” The obscenity was followed by a series of compliment on how pink and tight and unfucked from the crowd, words and expressions that the innocent little tailor did not understand at all.

The boy was then lifted up from his waist. With the lower half of his back landed on Travis’s chest, he knew his ass was then at Travis’s face. The young master had eaten the most obscene place on his front, he understood what was going to happen on his back –

“EEEHHHHHHH,” his anus was cupped by Travis’s lips, Adam screeched his lungs out, “HELP ME GRANDMAAAA – ” The tongue massaged back and forth at his secret hole, and the lips smacked and sucked, making the same disturbing sound of slurping so loudly. He could never understand why any man would do such a thing.

The most terrible bit of the night was, whenever Adam thought he could finally pass out, he would be brought back to sober and forced to face the ill treatment. The kiss on his hole lasted like forever, Travis kept pulling his cheeks outwards to the maximum, stretching his anus for the tongue to enter, but never accomplished. Too much crying, Adam could no longer feel anything but the spasm of his lungs.

“It looks like this slutty hole is looking for some good fuck,” Travis spat a generous amount on the hole, his middle and ring fingers drawing circles around it. Curling up his fingers, he forced the finger tips into the boy’s anus.

“AHHHHH – NOOO – AHHHHH” Adam clenched his anus as if it could stop him from entering.

“No?” Travis chuckled, “I got it. Your slutty hole wants more.” His forefinger joint and the three fingers forced down to the contracting tunnel at once. “Such a tiny fuck hole, slut.” The fingers dug deep, then back up and pushed back in again, thrusting in and out ruthlessly. His other hand slapped on pale the asscheek, spanking too hard that fiery red finger prints were immediately visible on the tender skin.

“STOOOOOOP! I BEG YOU! I BEG YOU…” Adam bellowed. His anus felt splitting under the plundering fingers, his clenching sphincter burnt with the friction. It hurt, so bad. He blamed himself for not passing out from the very beginning, it would have saved him a great deal of pain and humiliation. Tears choked in his windpipes, he coughed, striking for air at the same time. What if he died there?...

“Dude, stop that, he’s choking.”

Instead of holding Adam, the men held Travis’s arms and separated him with the victim. They then placed Adam flat to the bed.

“GET THE FUCK OFF!” Furious, Travis swung the hands off, “I’m the boss!”

“Don’t you see he’s in pain?” asked a man.

“He is Clark’s boy, he should have known what he has to do,” roared Travis, “Right now he’s pretending innocent and I’m satisfying his slutty raping fantasy.”

“He doesn’t look like pretending. He’s fainting,” another man argued.

“I’m not Clark’s boy! I’m Adam. I’m a tailor!” Adam cried out loud, he opened his swollen eyes, staring at Travis.

“Alright, look, he’s wide awake. Fainting?” Travis grabbed Adam by his face and forced his mouth open, “Adam, beg me to fuck you and I’ll let you go.” His finger nails dug into Adam’s soft cheeks, “SAY _FUCK ME_! SAY IT!”

He had heard the f-word from Jerome, but Jerome had never taught him what it exactly was. How could he ask for something he did not even know? But he knew that what Travis was going to do to him was worse than he could expect. Tears ran down Adam’s face and he grimaced in malice.

“Look at this face, so obnoxious,” Travis let go of the beautiful face, he threw the boy’s legs over his shoulders and continued, “You need to be taught.” He pulled the boy’s hip towards his groin, pointing his cock at the boy’s hole, and the next moment, he thrust the whole cock in, attempted to inflict the maximum amount of pain to the teen.

Adam kept kicking and closing his legs, but it only added to the Travis’s excitement. The cock stretched his tiny anus. Travis withdrew and penetrated deep inside again with no mercy, splitting down to his colon. Adam could no longer hold back his screams to the rape.

“FUCK IT FUCK IT,” Travis moaned in amusement, “Your slut hole so fucking tight.” He sped up thrusting his cock in and out, raw and cruelly. Without any lubrication, the friction was heating up his cock, turning it even harder, but it was the pain from hell to the victim. “Scream, little whore! You love me ruining your fuck hole, don’t you?”

Pressing the boy’s thighs onto his chest, Travis bent him up and slumped his whole weight on top of him, reaching a new depth into tiny, trembling tunnel. Adam squirmed, writhed around, he pulled at the handcuffs trying to break free, but the handcuffs only ate into the skin on his wrists.

As much as it turned Travis on watching Adam bawling, and his beautifully sculptured face distorting by tears and sweat, it was even more delighting to hear his muffled screams: he then stuffed fingers into Adam’s mouth, playing with his tongue, gagging him. He was deep fucking the beautiful boy fast and ferociously, slapping his laps loudly against the boy’s buttcheeks, making him bounce on the bed.

“Say you love my cock in your tight ass, fuck toy!” He cared nothing of Adam, only his own pleasure; and those who had had fun watching were soon leaving.

Adam did not fight, did not struggle at all, he could no long move at this point. His lungs and stomach continually cramped. He finally fainted before Travis came inside him.

***

Unlocking the handcuffs, Travis spilled a pile of bank notes over Adam’s face. He went to the cellar for more liquor and got himself black out till noon. When he was back to his room to change his clothes the housemaids had already tidied up his room, while the money was placed tidily on the pillow. “What a stupid whore,” he thought. So he went to the shop.

“Hey,” he slapped on Clark’ ass when he was on his tip toe, getting the fabric in the stockroom. Clark nervously shut the door.

“How dare you touch me here in your dad’s shop?” Clark smirked mischievously, “If he finds you’re rebelling against him, he’ll surely pass his business to your baby sister.”

 “I can’t help it when you’re so pretty.” Travis chuckled, “Looks like you’re not angry at me anymore.” He cleared his throat and took out the money, “By the way, he forgot to take this.”

“He? Who?”

“That blonde doll you sent me last night.”

“What blonde?” Clark frowned and shook his head involuntarily, “Seriously, Travis Ricci? You thought I would really get you another boy to fuck? I was joking!” His heart sank to his stomach, “Blonde?... In the house?...”

“He was looking for you! If it’s not your prostitute then who’s he?” Travis started to get the meaning from Clark’s blank expression, “He said he’s Adam…” He watched his effeminate lover palmed his face. “What the fuck do you mean? You told me he resigned years ago!”

“Yes, I lied. I was afraid you’d touch him and now you just told me you did!” Clark punched to the wall in rage.

“If I knew it was him, at least I wouldn’t have trashed him like that!” Travis pulled on his unruly hair, “GOSH! That’s a nice good boy!”

“Why? You seem so into him,” grinding his teeth, Clark scolded, “He’s your house servant, a dirty, cheap slave!”

“Where is he? I should get him a doctor.” Knowing he would not get the answer, Travis dragged the door open, and stormed out to the apprentices’ sewing room.

 

~End of Chapter 2~

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos/ comments if you like this :3  
> Your support is my fuel. 
> 
> Find me on Twitter: @BulgieLuvsMe  
> xoxo


	3. White Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “SHUT UP! You’re the most pathetic!” yelled Adam, yet knowing this spiteful man was not going to stop.
> 
> “Did your wrinkly girlfriend tell you she’s leaving?” Clark watched Adam’s confusion, then gave a little grin and shook his head, “Who do you think she’ll choose? You, or Sean? Who’s more pathetic here?”
> 
> Agitated Adam grabbed Clark by the collar and threw him down to the floor, his fist flashed over Clark’s face, Clark let out a high pitched scream and the next moment he pressed right on the teen’s rib, shoving him down to the ground with ease.
> 
> Taking advantage on the injury, Clark straddled over Adam’s stomach in a victorious position. He grabbed hard on the boy’s face, “God gave you this face to make up on your lack of talent. And you filthy slutty thing surely know how to use it well.” Brutally, he let the teen witness his design torn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the wait. I finally graduated and this 10K+ chapter is to celebrate my straight A's school report :D xD
> 
> These 2 months were not easy :[ For a moment, Saulbert's split made me wanna give up writing and so I put my time 100% onto studying. But I finally decided to carry on writing, dedicate to my favourite couple forever. 
> 
> This page will NOT be abandoned.  
> Thank you again! Enjoy.

Opening his eyes, Adam found himself on the bed alone. The pain of hellfire all over him began to strike, telling him the torture was not a just a bad dream. He sat up slowly, and wrapped the sheet around himself, limping his way back to the hut. The staircase in the dark did the young boy no mercy, letting him trip off the last few steps. But he would not scream anymore. Right now, he just wanted to drown himself into a big tub of water.

The freezing water did not matter, if only it could wash away his dirtiness. Harshly he scrubbed and scrubbed on his bruised skin, nothing else could purify what ailed him; he rubbed, scratched till the white towel stained in pink, till he was too tired to continue… So cold, so exhausted, his eyelids began to droop.

***

Rise and shine, the grannies woke up and got ready to work.

“Oh, Adam! Lock the door!” Seeing Adam soaked in the bathtub was pretty much exciting for a granny in the early morning. She shut the door immediately.

“Knock the door first unless you wanna see _something_ _good_ , naughty girl.”

“I’ve bathed my husband and sons, big deal? I only saw the back of his head though.”

The grannies laughed. In a little while, they exchanged looks out of the strange quietness in the bathroom.

“Adam?” _Knock, knock,_ “Adam?”

Dorothy opened the door and found the boy was still sitting there. “Adam?” He did not speak and seemed not to hear. As she looked more carefully, Adam’s head was lying limply on the bathtub.

“OH MY GOD!” Old Dorothy almost swooned at what she saw: their beloved boy fainted in the tub, half of his face underwater. “HELP!” She yelled and blanched, holding the boy’s face up so he would not drown.

Other grannies hurtled into the bathroom. They had no time to think who and what had given the boy the terrible wounds – he was cold, his breath was so weak. They hauled the unconscious boy out, dried him before placing him down on his bed, wrapping him up with all blankets they had in the room. Gazing at the boy, silent tears pouring down their wrinkly faces, none made a sound.

Slowly, he was gaining back his body temperature, they watched Adam’s face flushed again. They all sighed and patted on each other’s back in relief when his face gave a little twitch. On top of the healthy pink glow, crimson finger marks started to flow so visibly across his pale skin, the corners of his lips cracked severely that obviously was caused by violence.

Dorothy caressed his hair and Adam jumped in her touch and frowned, his eyes squeezing. “Poor child… What happened to you?...” She mumbled, her voice shuttered with a tremendous heartbreak. When she took the boy’s hand out of the blankets, the open wound on his wrist sliced the grannies’ hearts into pieces. “Who would ever do that?... I don’t understand…”

Gently, the ladies cleaned Adam’s wounds with warm towels. From the bruises, they seemed to know what horrible things had happened to him…

Dorothy skimmed through every man in her mind, trying to find out who the abuser would be… _Clark?_ “Silly boy… Didn’t you try to stand up for me?...” But no, Clark was way too tiny to harm Adam, who was then over 6 feet with a wide torso… Perhaps, there was more than one person… She could not help imagining the terrible scenes after their talk last night… “It’s my fault, Adam… I shouldn’t have told you that… I’d rather they’ve taken my old life…” No matter how Dorothy rubbed on her left chest, it just could not soothe her heartache.

Later the ladies found the sheet hanging on the mirror in the bathroom. Adam must have been scared by his own reflection. In the most humble bathroom, the sheet made of probably the finest silk in town that stained with blood, sweat and semen explained everything about the assaulter.

***

Bumping around the back factory, Travis could find no signs of the little boy he saw last night. Just when he was pushing through the door to the front shop, he was hauled all the way to the back door and thrown onto the ground in a blink.

Standing right before him with his arms crossed, Nathan stared at his only son with a grim face. “What the hell did you do last night?”

“Adam?” Travis quickly went back to his feet, “Where is he now? Let me get him a doctor.”

Nathan scolded, “If it wasn’t for his reputation, the housemaids would have reported to the police! He’s almost killed”

“It's not me!” Hurriedly, Travis defended, “If he didn’t struggle that hard he wouldn’t have hurt himself.”

“Don’t you understand that’s your fault? What you’ve done is immoral!”

“What? Immoral?” Travis sneered, “Slaves serve their masters in the dining room as well as in the bedroom, it’s their job.” For a few seconds his dad went speechless, so he continued, “As I was told he was bought as a house slave, not a tailor. _YOU_ have been taking advantage on him, not me. I paid him even I didn’t need to.”

“Nonsense! What do you know except fucking around making troubles? When I’m gone, when the old tailors are gone, you’ll count on him and Clark!”

“Ah, I got it,” The son sneered again, “In the end you’re only concerning about your fortune, not the poor kid.”

Nathan was exasperated  by Travis’s disrespectful attitude. “I knew you’d make troubles, that’s why I sent you to France to keep you occupied. I thought you’d finally grow up as a decent person but you’re constantly proving me wrong!”

“I was already a grownup when you sent me there,” Travis giggled, “You sent me there simply to look after your materialistic wife and the dumbass daughter, didn’t you –”

 _BAM!_ For the first time ever in his life, Nathan slapped his most loved son. “Respect your family!”

“They are _NOT_ my family!” Travis yelled, veins popping up on the corners of his forehead, “My mom’s dead! After a whole day of laboring, you had to haul me out of her belly so she died! Remember what you always said to me? _If only we had the money for a doctor back then, your mom wouldn’t had died_ –”

“ENOUGH!” Nathan snarled, “I was too young. I was only an apprentice with very low income. I never wanted it to end that way!” He had his head in his hands as he explained, “All these years I’ve been working hard to compensate you –”

Cruelly, Travis cut his father’s words, “How can you ever compensate me? I don’t hate you for impregnating my mom before marrying her. I hate you because the title of _MRS. RICCI_ belongs to my mom not the woman who came to you because of your money!”

“We’re love at first sight.” Nathan eyes lowered, “You won’t understand how lonely I was…It had been 18 years since your mom’s death… I needed a companion too.” His flung before his chest desperately, “Believe me… no one can replace your mom… Everyone loved Roland Lambert, no one noticed there’s another talented boy next to him, who’s not very pleasing to the eyes. But your mom stood by me… I’m always grateful to have her.” All these years, Nathan seldom referred to his time before shooting to fame, this time, he revealed part of his past, and then he said nothing. The storm, he hoped, would pass quicker.

“There’re lots of women out there, why her? I still remember her little boy cried on my laps in the hospital that night, like it was only yesterday. I wish he's doing good without a mom."

Nathan’s gaze dropped to the ground. While Travis still thought his dad had not felt enough guilt, he bent down, said quietly in his ears, “I buy what I want. That’s what I learned from you, dad.”

“Don’t look for Adam he needs some rest!” But the son slammed the door shut in front of him.

***

In the humble hut, Adam was paralyzed with horror. Moonless and rainy, chased by voices, fleeing with his hands tied, falling down the rocky road or drowning in overflowing gutters, he could hear Travis’s breathes and his friends’ yelping their approval of the torture –

“Poor boy.”

 Adam jumped when a hand touched his face. Eyes popped open, the fright and darkness replaced by the smell of steamy, sweet milk pudding. “Gran…” The pudding had pulled him back to reality, filling the air with the sweetest sense of safety. He flung his arms around Dorothy’s neck, snuggled close crying out as loud as he loved to.

Suddenly a bony hand patted on his shoulder, he squeezed Dorothy tight and turned to where the hand came from.

Strong sunlight at the man’s back, Adam could only see two dark shadowy male figures. “Adam, this is my co-worker,” now their faces could be seen as they moved closer. It was Doctor White and another man.

White tapped on the Adam’s lap he uttered gently, “Eat some soup.” Softly he pulled Adam’s right arm straight and placed his wrist on a comfortable position. “Dorothy will feed you, isn’t it good?” He then exchanged eyes with the other doctor before moving closer, checking the boy’s eyes and the wounds on his face, purposely blocking him from seeing what the other doctor was going to do.

“Ahhh…” Adam moaned as the doctor started to stitch the deep cut on his wrist, but then his mouth was stuff by few pieces of chicken.

Stuffing another spoon into Adam’s mouth nervously, Dorothy muttered, “He’ll be fine… Right, Doctors?” Finally, Adam managed to swallow and she could sigh in relief. But the twitch on Adam’s face gave her another heart attack.  

“My sh-tomach…” He swallowed a mouthful of chicken and could not help frowning in pain, “Hur-sh…”

“Stomach?” Doctor White pressed on the hollow between the ribs, “Here?” then he moved a little to the left, “Here?” Adam squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. It was a broken rib that kept him so uncomfortable. But still, he hurried to finish the soup for his favourite milk pudding.

“It must be delicious,” Doctor White giggled, “Sauli put a lot of good stuff into it.” Adam did not reply, but White knew his words were heard as Adam’s eyes looked to the side and forgot to chew, as if he was searching for the words. “Mr. Koskinen is now your first loyal customer, little star.”

“Did he… say anything? He didn’t want to see me?”

“He had to leave with this family this morning, so he asked the housemaid to take the soup to the shop, to you.” Doctor White watched his sadness, then touched his face, “I heard you two are friends now, right? Last night I was their guest, I know he wanted to write you something but he doesn’t speak much of our language, so he decided to cook for you.”

Good to know Sauli might probably miss him, Adam forced a smile to thank the kind doctor. Sauli’s leaving hit him harder than any strikes, he had lost everything overnight. His heart sank, and it seemed too broken to be repaired.

***

To the whole world, Nathan boasted of how brave little Adam was to fight with the robbers in the house and got severely injured, while he closeted the boy in the hut, any visit was forbidden.

_“Adam, I’m not locking you up. I’m protecting you. People will judge you. They will never like your works again if they know what actually happened. You understand?”_

How could he ever understand? He was no longer welcomed. What had he done wrong? Nothing could explain why Dorothy nodded to Nathan’s words.

_“I suggest you forget that very unfortunate accident and move on. You have to. You will only go back to work when you’re ready.”_

A considerable amount of thoughts had been going through his mind since Nathan’s first visit. The following two weeks were dreary. The distraught teen kept his own company, the sting on his healing rib gave him the best excuse to speak to no one. With all talent and cleverness he was born with, when it came to dealing with the cunning of the world, he was too inadequate.

The activities in his thought drove him further awake that night… Eventually he got out from the blankets, grabbed his paper and crayons from the chest under the bed. Outside the bedroom was a scary well of darkness. He gingerly curled himself and slid through the door to the living room, came dashing to turn the light bulb on and started to fill the paper with sketches.

The lady in his mind was really tall. Her arms and legs were so long like those from the giraffes he used to see in the zoo. The sounds of his crayons stroking on the paper continued, there was no time for thought or consideration. He was reading her in his mind, building her from under the skin.

Despite her obsession in green, Adam believed that burgundy celebrated her exotic beauty most appropriately. The neckline squared and scalloped, low enough to show off her plum busts, high enough to exuded elegance and grace. The floor-length underskirts were soft and full with layers in black, lace and silk. Instead of the hourglass silhouette the corset overdress was made to fit her original body form. It is made of the finest burgundy satin, with the hem of the skirt that was embroidered, subtly showing off the flower pattern of the lace underskirts.

Hats and gloves, her favourite. Pinning a hat made of black lace embellished with small red roses, and putting on the long, black gloves. He realized it was his mom he had been drawing. It would be the gown that made her stay forever.

Till now there had been no signs that Nathan would let him out any soon. It would be dawn in an hour, if he was to go back to the factory to get the gown done, he should not wait until everyone woke up. Pushing his bravery to the edge, Adam decided to take his steps outside. He grabbed his design, deliberately pushed the door open.

Deep breaths. The smell of freedom was mixed with nerves and fear. He crossed the garden to the kitchen in where was a door let out onto the street. The house dissolved into black behind him, he felt a shiver of fear froze around his heart. The thin moon was only enough to make out a feet before his feet. The silence was deeper than the dark around. He gasped and panted involuntarily. For a few times he thought he would just rush back to the house. The shop was only to the end of this street and the beginning of another… but tonight it was like a 10-mile long walk. It was already dawn when he reached the back door. It was not locked –

GASP –

Why were there so many people already? He froze behind the door, waiting for his heartbeat to quiet down. He heard voice whispering behind him, followed by some almost girlish giggles.

“Adam?” Clark’s voice came through the door, “Come on, show yourself!”

Adam made himself calmer, he pulled himself up straight and pushed the door open.

“Aww. Look at our little hero, so fragile. How did he fight away the robbers?” He lowered his eyes, scanning Adam from his waist down, “Weren’t they just too satisfied after nailing a leggy chick in the grandmas’ room?”

Shouts of laughter followed. Though Adam had not heard of some of the words, he sort of knew what it must mean from the way they reacted.

“What’s he holding?” The shameless gang then ran towards him and fetched the design on his hands –

“GIVE IT BACK TO ME!”

“Crap! This design’s for dogs!”

Their cruelty didn’t make Adam aback this time. Very shaken, Adam face turned red, “If you have real talent you won’t have to gang up on me! Just show me what you can do!”

“How rude,” Clark spitted. He attempted to stroke on the teen’s head but got his hand slapped away. “Get back to your mom’s womb. No one likes you.”

“SHUT UP! You’re the most pathetic!” yelled Adam, yet knowing this spiteful man was not going to stop.

“Did your wrinkly girlfriend tell you she’s leaving?” He watched Adam’s confusion, then gave a little grin and shook his head, “Who do you think she’ll choose? You, or Sean? Who’s more pathetic here?”

Agitated Adam grabbed Clark by the collar and threw him down to the floor, his fist flashed over Clark’s face, Clark let out a high pitched scream and the next moment he pressed right on the teen’s rib, shoving him down to the ground with ease.

Taking advantage on the injury, Clark straddled over Adam’s stomach in a victorious position. He grabbed hard on the boy’s face, “God gave you this face to make up on your lack of talent. And you filthy slutty thing surely know how to use it well.” Brutally, he let the teen witness his design torn.

“Why is it always like there’re street fighters?” Jerome swept into the room and was shocked to the bullying had finally evolved into a real fight. “You again, Clark? I won’t defense you if the customers hear you barking at a kid like a mad dog.”

Everyone around exchanged an unspoken request of a truce, for Jerome was the most respectful tailor in the Ricci’s. Jerome let out an angry breath, “All of you get the fuck back to your positions! And you, stay next to me till Dorothy comes pick you up.”

As Adam’s his eyes connected with the Jerome’s stern ones, he instantly lowered his head and gazed back to the ground.

He sat beside Jerome, silently watching him sewing. His fingers itched with the crazy need to touch the scissors, the cloth and the sewing machine, so much that he had to clench his fist by his sides. And finally, “Come back to work tomorrow if you want,” the pouting teen was given paper and crayons to _play_ with.

At corner of Adam’s eyes, Dorothy suddenly appeared. She had been watching him drawing for quite a long while. He saw a slight smile moved across her face. “Gran…” Fear sweated in his palms, and it made him asked the questions blunter than he intended, “Are you leaving? You hate me now?”

She stood for a moment in silence, her hands clutching on her skirt. “How did you know…” She stepped to him, her eyes fixed on his chin. Though she did not reply directly, her words were like pins pushing into his heart. “No matter what he did, he’s still my boy…”

“They take you in lieu? Are you working for them?” Adam yelled, his voice hoarse from swallowing his tears, “You’re senior you can’t do rough work!”

“Adam… You’re the sweetest boy I’ve ever met in my life…” She held his hands, “When I’m not around, stay close with Edith and Gloria.” He could not believe he would be abandoned again. His eyes flew open wide at her, looking for guidance as to how he could help with Sean’s debt.

“What can I help?... Tell me…” Adam pleaded, “Why everyone leaves me… I’ve been being a good boy… Don’t leave me… I beg you…” Throwing her arms around Adam’s head, Dorothy hugged him tight into her chest, like how she did on the first day she met this kid.

***

Dorothy’s fresh bread went exceptional as usual, with the moist very well preserved. Everyone was stuffing their stomach to explode while Adam only had a slice. Within days the one and only person he had been relying on would be gone. He was once again proven _unwanted_.

 _“No, it won’t be happening.”_ He slipped out from his bed almost without thinking.  Sneaking out of the house from the kitchen, he moved swiftly in the soundless street. He knew where he was heading – the dormitory – to look for _him_.

The street was so quiet Adam could hear the dorm’s side door groaned, footsteps moving toward him. Adam hid himself in the back street, waited until _he_ was directly before him, and he stepped into his path –

Clark jumped with terror, his butt hit hard to the ground. “What the fuck are you doing here?” He hissed, though he was agitated by Adam’s presence he suppressed his voice as though he must not be discovered.

“I thought I should strangle you…” Adam blurted out.

“Crazy!” He did not try to hide the fear in his voice. His hands scrabbling desperately on the ground, Adam bent over to help him up. He pulled up instantly, flinging away the teen’s helping hands as if the touch had scalded him.

“Clark, I’m sorry.”

Clark frowned disbelievingly, “What? What did you just say?”

“I’m sorry,” Adam mumbled, carefully not looking at Clark, “Could you just let me pay for Dorothy’s debt?”

“Don’t you understand you’re just a beggar Nathan picked up from the street. Who are you to take the responsibility? It’s two-fucking-thousand!”

Perhaps the quiet tone had made magic, the conversation was probably the longest and the friendliest one the two enemies had ever had.

“I know,” Adam said sullenly, “But there must be ways. You always know something I can never imagine.” Clark suddenly wore a smirk but did not reply, Adam went on, “I beg you…”

“You’re lovely tonight,” Clark patted on the fluffy blonde hair, “I think I can do you a favor, but you have to be grateful and do whatever I ask you to.” Adam nodded neurotically, without knowing where Clark was bringing him to would be an even worst nightmare for the rest of his life.

***

They crossed the old bridge to the neighborhood that had fearful surroundings. Bars and small business, thick rotting smells. Men and women stood outside almost every house, smiling and winking at everyone walked by. Adam later found it was not a good idea to stick his eyes on the ground as the scenery of drunken men lying next to dead mouse turned his stomach.

From the side of a big house, a man came closer and his figure illuminated in the glow of the oil lamp on the wall. “Pretty, where have you been?”

“Busy, I have a decent job,” Clark wrapped an arm around Adam’s waist, “This is why I’m here.”

The two men exchanged looks and Adam was led into the big house, in where drunken laughter hit on the walls and bouncing exaggerated echo up to the ceiling. The teen was brought farther into the house. Passing the living room was a hallway leading to an interior garden, where Clark asked Adam to wait quietly, then disappeared into the dark hallway.

Adam’s whole body went rigid uncomfortably. The air still and quiet, the only sound in the garden was his insane heartbeat. Heavy footsteps from the hallway, towards him… it was absolutely not Clark…

“Uh–” Adam almost blacked out as an arm shot at him and he was marched through the narrow passage into a room. The door banged closed behind him and his back got slammed onto the man’s chest, the strong arm wrapped tight around his neck. Everything happened simultaneously, leaving the startled boy no time to process.

“He’s huge.” Next to Clark sat a skinny old man with pale skin. He had the nose hooked like the scary witch Adam had read about in story books when he was little.

“Does it matter if he’s only lying there?” Clark said.

The old man stepped towards Adam, who lowered his face instantly. He seized the teen’s jaw hard and forced his face up. “How old is he?”

“Nineteen,” Clark said immediately, “Virgin.”

“Too old,” He frowned, “You’re seventeen from now on, got it, Babydoll?”

Clark and the old man then started a discussion in the corner of the room. As they did, the hand on Adam’s neck shifted to muffle him mouth. A hand huge and rough slipped under his shirt, touching directly on his skin. The man at his back began to search all over his body. Adam kept struggling, stomping hard on the man’s feet, elbowing wherever he could hit, but the arms only snaked him tighter.

“Hmm…” He tried to scream at the top of his lungs, now the hand had explored enough on his torso, it moved down to his belly and intruded into his pants. A bearded face pressed at the crook of his neck, he felt a broad smile splitting across the man’s face.

“You’re so soft and eatable,” the man’s hot breath on his skin was a chill down his spine. His eyes were heated up by tears, his nose congested. He pushed his hip backward, vainly to escape from the hand in his pants, but only to feel the man’s harden penis thrusting right on him.

“Get him to Hugo, you horny son-of-a-bitch,” the old man whirled at them and yelled, “Can’t you see his hair is a fucking shit?”

“It looks more natural this way,” though the man was still holding Adam, he paused. He eventually got to pull his hand out as the old man came at him with a harsh look. “Hugo is busy with his own makeup I guess,” he said, removing his hand from the boy’s face. Adam gasped for his life reactively. As the first gulp of air went down his lungs, he managed to cry out –

The old man pointed at Adam’s face, the hooked beaklike nose pierced through his eyes, bringing goosebumps to his scalp. “Tonight we have a very important client. Don’t you dare mess it up.” Squeezing on the boy’s hand, he hissed grimly, “One more drop of tears from your eyes, I’ll let you feel needles in your fingertips.” He held the hand up and clicked his tongue, “Look at these young, tender fingers. I can’t wait to see them bleed.”

The door slammed open, “Tidy the place up you motherfuckers! If he complains, you’re all fucking dead!” The old man not only had the scariest witch-like face, his voice was the chorus in hell that froze Adam’s soul with terror. He was then dragged through the door and hurried back to the garden. Separated from the garden by a wooden folding screen was a small room full of big and small mirrors, a silver-haired man was sitting powdering his nose.

“Hugo, we’ve got a new boy, _Babydoll_.”

When Hugo turned at them, the man backed out of the room automatically, as if this elder had telepathic power. “I’m not wasting my powder on this doll face,” Hugo said, his voice much softer than Adam expected, he took out a small bottle and sprayed fragrant mist on the boy’s neck, on where the man had kissed on. “That dude’s disgusting, isn’t he? Where did you get this shirt by the way? I like patchwork,” softly, he patted the skin dry. Perhaps the telepathic power was real, Adam felt comfortable in front of Hugo.

“You have the look that draws men and women like moths to flame. I’m not jealous at all,” Hugo led Adam to the couch and made him a cup of tea. “People wanted to see me degenerate because I was beautiful. I pity you.”

Adam sipped the tea quietly, it smelled so nice.

“Lola’s a businessman, unlike me. One third goes to his commission, another one third is the rent of the bed. And you have to repay your loan with your actual earnings. Clients are not so rich here so you actually earn thirty to fifty a time, depends on your skills.” Hugo said while checking out his hair with a gold hand mirror.

It was definitely not _sewing skills_ Hugo meant. “I owe him… two thousand…” Adam’s arms lay limp on his sides, “I will stay here… forever…”

“Well, you’ve got this doll face, old jerks love you, they usually pay more.” He tapped on Adam’s lap, “Our client tonight is so-fucking-rich. He’s fond of young virgins like you, but once he’s taken away your purity he won’t be interested in you anymore. So you only have one chance to please him.”

“I don’t get it, sir…” Adam’s lips quivered, he refused to understand when he was supposed to do.

“You do know Hugo and Lola is a brothel, don’t you, sweetie pie?”

A brothel? Adam shook his head, “What will he do?... Will he… hurt me?...”

Clicking his tongue, Hugo explained, “He’s stabbing your ass with his pee pee, got it now? It may hurt a little, that’s how he knows you’re pure. Do try to show him he’s hurting you though. That gouty old man hasn’t been hard for a decade, he needs some encouragement.”

Adam was too agitated to keep his body from shivering. But old Hugo laughed out loudly. “His turn on is to watch young boys groupie. He may not really touch you. Even if he does, he won’t stab you for too long,” Hugo giggled, putting his crimson lipstick on, he even asked the shaking boy about the color. Getting no response he went chuckling.

“Silly boy, you’re losing your virginity here anyway. Why not lose it to someone who can pay you a great fortune? Trust me, he’s less disgusting then most of our clients.”

***

In Hugo and Lola, everyone was talking about the strange, horny old Mr. M who was rich and famous, and was known to have married. He paid the rent of the house in exchange for complete discretion and absolute confidentiality. The boys continued dressing up to show their best looks to their most valuable client.

 _He_ arrived. Lola arranged his surprise after the client had a few glasses of overpriced wine. As the brothel owner proudly introduced his most precious finding of all time, Adam paced heavily behind him.

“Babydoll?” Mr. M sneered coldly, “You do realize his head almost hits the ceiling?”

“Height won’t matter, sir,” Lola pulled Adam forward by his ear, gave a hard kick on his butt and so he fell on his knees right in front of the client, “Greet.”

“Good evening, sir,” Adam stumbled, his voice hardly audible.

In such a close distance, Mr. M could study the boy better. His hair was too fluffy and messy for current fashion, yet it was very soft and cuddly. “Look at me,” he commanded. The light grey eyes that flecked with blue in the weak light caught him in wonder.

“He’s as adorable as his name, isn’t he?” Lola raised his voice in a cheesy way, while Mr. M was gazing still on the boy.

Fine sculptured bone like a stolen face from a statue. His brows were full at the front to the middle, rising up along the brow bone then tapered like a soft line toward the ears. His eyelashes thick and curly like a feather fan. Mr. M’s hands ended up on the doll face. Soft and youthful. The whiteness of his skin was different. It was so delicate that a single afternoon under the sun would absolutely burn him. 

“Babydoll,” he said while dropping his gaze to Babydoll’s plump and pouty lips that reminded him the Cupid’s bow. The lovely pink made a great contrast with his pale skin. “Take a seat, why you kneeling here?”

Late 50, a round face, high forehead and big nose. To Adam, Mr. M was immediately familiar. yet he was definitely not a customer of the Ricci’s. During the erotic show, Adam forced himself to focus on placing Mr. M. His eyes fixed on the ground to ignore the embarrassing scenes before him. Suddenly, next to him he felt Mr. M shifted in his seat, and a short arm wrapped around his waist.

“Why don’t you move? Are you a real doll?”

Adam glanced back up to Mr. M, who was staring at him with a clear shine in his beady eyes. Mr. M had the weirdest face Adam had ever seen, not the same scary factor as on Lola’s face, but the blatant attention  made him feel like a piece of meat in the lion cage.

“Look,” Lola came grabbing Mr. M’s hand and placed it on Adam’s left chest, “His heart’s beating, isn’t it?”

“Yes, so fast,” Mr. M spoke dreamily.

“Our Babydoll is so nervous. Give him a hug.” Mr. M squeezed the boy tight. “Like this! Isn’t he so warm and cozy,” Lola faked his excitement and panted, “Now kiss him. Touch him. He’s waiting for you.” Mr. M was mesmerized by Lola, his hands sneaked under Adam’s shirt, frantic kisses and nibbles dropped on the doll face, then moved to his neck. “YES! How he smells?”

Give a loud sniff on the boy’s neck, Mr. M hissed, “Sweet… and,” he inhaled again deeply, “Soap.”

“Of course! He is a very clean boy.”

Adam was then thrown down to the couch, getting rubbed, squeezed and pinched like a ragdoll. Holding his breath, he should not cry. Another kiss dropped on his cheek and Mr. M abruptly stopped –

“Why are you crying?” He uttered word by word, sounded irritated. 

“He’s shy, sir. He’s not only literally _clean_ ,” Lola interrupted.

Adam caught Lola’s expression, he doomed. Now he could no longer suppress the stirring feeling in his stomach, tears gushing out from his eyes. He forced himself to speak, “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… Don’t…” He clutched his fists tight, attempting to hide all his fingertips in his palms. The terror was so profound that he began to feel his heart splitting. But the shinning tears were actually like crytal drops to the client’s eyes.

“Aww…” in Mr. M’s voice there was pity as well as patience, “Get him something to drink, Lola.” He held the boy up, “It’s okay,” smiling along as the boy was shaking with crisis. He took a sip of his wine, waiting till the boy’s breathing was even, he passed him the other glass he got from Lola. “Drink it. You’ll feel better.”

Noticing Lola’s cold stare, Adam took over the glass, the dark red liquid burnt its way down his throat. So was it the ‘wine’ thing that wealthy people were craving for? Bitter and sour, it was the worst thing he had ever drunk besides cough medicine. Was he supposed to feel better?

The show resumed with a strip dance, Mr. M stayed a feet distance from him. But it did not make him more comfortable. Gradually, heat began to build from his belly and it spread down. The stingy feeling on his groin had him close his legs. His crazy heartbeat would not slow down it brought ring in his ears. Minutes later, wooziness engulfed him.

Vaguely he got thrown over someone’s shoulders. He knew where he was heading. Terrible flashback corkscrewed. There he was tossed onto the bed again, he heard the door closed and heavy fabric hit the ground. A fleshy figure landed on him, it had cost him a great deal of effort to pop his eyes open –

Mr. M mounted over his waist, naked, untying his bowtie in a way like kids unwrapping their presents. “Don’t panic, I won’t hurt you.” The tie dropped to the ground, and his shirt, then his undershirt. The old man’s hand pressed on his chest gently asking him to stay very still. Then his hands were led to under the pillow.

Adam only dared to wriggle a bit, arranging himself in a way he felt less embarrassing – at least not as spread-eagled as he was just tossed to bed. He was not sure what to do with his eyes, for a while he looked to the ceiling then he closed them. A big stomach landed on his own, hot breath tickled on his face. It was about to start, the nightmare. Adam clenched his fists.

Perhaps the old man could see the tension on the cute face, he started with kisses on his forehead, mouthing tenderly around the frowned brows, and with his thumbs, he caressed the boy’s cheeks. He kissed along the straight nose, reaching the rosy lips. His lips felt so rough on Adam’s soft and plump ones. After a few good kisses he started to lick on the softness. He kept it very gentle so as not to hurt the teen.

Then suddenly a firm push, his tongue passed through the babyish lips and made Adam shuddered and hummed in shock. He licked around the boy’s tongue and slowly attempted to suck the young boy into his mouth. But Adam’s wiggles and pushes explained clearly how the old man’s breath (mixed with cigarettes, wine and feast) was disgusting him. The old man quickly withdrew, dodged his nose and shifted to the lovely cheekbone.

“You smell so good,” Mr. M murmured against Adam’s cheek. It was a complete understatement. The smell together with the softness of the youthful skin, in fact, had been making him nearly desperate. Lipping his way with soft kisses, the old man then sucked on the boy’s ear and played with it with his tongue.

Adam flinched as the tongue slid into his ear, he still managed to hold back a whimper. But then rough fingers pinched on his nipples, he let out his first soft sigh.

“Patience, boy,” whispered the old man, pulling back up.

Even with his eyes shut, Adam could tell Mr. M was then sitting there watching his nipples getting teased by the skillful fingers. Pinching, rubbing and circling, till his nipples went stiff. He found himself blushing, but before his hands could cover his shameful harden peas, the old man bent down to kiss on them. Adam ended throwing his hands back, grabbing the pillowcase.

A loud kiss after another, Mr. M went between both nipples swiftly. Then darted his tongue out and gave a quick lick on them, making Adam buried one side of his face in the pillow side immediately. The old man wasted no time, he cupped the boy’s left nipple into his mouth, suckling.

Old Mr. M’s tongue was definitely a hundred times more agile then his age. Softened then flicked and swirled and slapped in an unpredictable manner, then alternatively it hardened up to stroke around the sensitive tip. The wet tongue lubed up his nipple just for another fierce suck to make it dry. Adam sobbed very softly that he thought his whimpers would have been covered by the sound of the slurping.

Pulling up to check out the pink swollen pea, the old man felt satisfied on his great job. Then he took the other one in. This time, he slurped the boy without mercy, pinching him with his tongue and lips hard enough to leave a hickey on the very tender skin.

Adam’s face burnt with shame, for the nipple humiliation was heating up his crotch, bringing stiffness in his pants. He should not be liking it, but he _was_ , sort of. Somehow he had forgotten to keep hold his croon.

“That’s too beautiful, your voice,” Mr. M spoke, leaving his nipple cold in the air. “Like angels singing in my ears. I can’t hear enough.” But the boy slammed his mouth shut at the compliment. 

The teasing had been paused for a while, Adam opened his eyes with curiosity. As he peeked, his eyes met with Mr. M’s – he was staring at him, with a brief smile on his face as if he was bewitched – Adam looked to the side again, blushing with embarrassment. But the fear was fading.

His belt got unbuckled. Adam swallowed, peeking Mr. M’s fingers wandering around his hip, then his pants slid down.

The moment when his pants were off, he was torn between shame and shock – his erection was protruding through his underpants. His instinct was to cover himself with his both hands, and yet again, before he could do that, the old man clutched his wrists and pressed them down to the mattress.

Mr. M sat for a moment studying the doll’s legs. The porcelain flesh so smooth and perfect with the glow of youth. He laid his hands on the bare calves and left them there for a while, then carefully he massaged all the way to his knees. “These legs are worth a million.” He traced a long line up to the very tender inner thighs, sneaking his fingers to the edge of the underpants, making Adam clamp his legs.

“Stay still, I won’t hurt you I promise.” Adam complied and let Mr. M spread his legs wide. The client’s eyes were drawn to the major erection, its outline was so visible through the underwear. Gazing for a moment, he bent down spreading the boy’s legs more, connecting his lips with the erection through the thin cotton and Adam gasped and leapt at his touch. His lips traveled along the youthful cock, feeling it pulsating with anticipation.

Fat fingers slipped into the waistband, slowly sliding the cotton down. The pink boner bounced out as the underpants came off, keeping the old man’s eyes busy running between the gorgeous legs and the cock of cuteness. The underpants slid off his feet, his thighs were shoved further apart for the fleshy client to go between.

So embarrassed. Adam’s hands hesitantly moved up to stop the old man’s glare and slammed down again to grab the sheet. Mr. M’s beard burnt on his groin, the warm of his breath got closer to his testicles. Adam quivered as the old man sucked one of them into his mouth, then the other.

Mr. M’s left hand pressed on the boy’s lower belly, fingering the pubic hair with his thumb. The hair was fine and thin was so light colored it almost looked naked. “I though you still haven’t grown any hair here,” he chuckled. With his right hand, he pulled the teenage cock straight, began to rub at the shaft, pumping out the first drop of pre-cum, then he kissed the tip and closed his lips around the cockhead, wiping away the fresh juice with his tongue. Then a stretch, half of the large cock sank into his oral, he was drooling heavily, moistening up the cock. The saliva dripped to the base of the cock, allowing him to pump the teen with both hands a lot smoother and quicker.

Adam whined and wriggled at the sound of stroking and suckling. The warmth covering his cock continued back and forth, the tongue was working along his swollen cock, patting on the shaft, flickering on the underside of the cockhead, swirling around the tip. He could feel himself swelled to the maximum. With Mr. M’s skillful work which was between rough and gentle, the stingy feeling on his cock was soothed. He squirmed and whimpered involuntarily as the excessive fluid was swallowed loudly.

Pulling the cock out of his mouth, Mr. M asked with a smirk, “You love it?” Adam shook his head. “Nope?” Mr. M leant forward, darted out his tongue and slapped on the slit under the head, his rough fists stroking at the base.

Adam’s mind raced with conflicting emotions: pain, shame and joy. The forced masturbation was merciless, he screamed, grabbing the sheet madly, the rub on his cock was way too fast and hard that might set his aching flesh on fire. Hot juices were flowing out, dripping down his length, coating the old man’s hands shamelessly, wetting the thin layer of pubic hair.

“Look at this cute penis, drooling like a river,” Mr. M had the boy to look at his hands which were glistening with fresh pre-cum, “And Babydoll just said he didn’t love it.”  Adam pouted with disgust before he clutched the pillow at the both side, folded it up to cover his face.

Mr. M could not stop his breathy laugh at the boy’s reaction, till tears streaming down his wrinkles and his belly aching. “You’re the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” he chuckled, “Don’t smother yourself.” But the boy only pressed harder on the pillow, burying his face deeper into it.

Before resuming the tease, he kissed on the teen’s cockhead, “Let me do it again, my Babydoll loves it.” He licked and sucked the cock with relish, and gradually taking him deeper into his greedy mouth. His head bobbed back and forth, fast and deep, till the head of the cock hit on his throat. At the same time his hands pumped hungrily, he pulled back and dragged the head across his tongue at times to vacuum the boy’s juice. The smooth and supple skin, the muffled groan, the tiny squirms, everything of Adam’s got the old man spellbound.

The boy’s cock was throbbing in his mouth, leaking the essence of youth on his tongue, it was so _alive_. The drops tasted stronger and stronger, and it was time to _stop_. The lovely pink cock slipped out of his mouth and twitched in the chilly air. “Where is my beautiful doll? I can’t see his face.” Adam seized the pillow still.

Suddenly, Mr. M flipped his doll over and wrenched the pillow away, as he did, he heard a soft whine. “You love the pillow?” he giggled, as soon as he placed it under the boy’s chest, it was squeezed into the shaky arms.

“Uhh…” Adam whimpered feeling his lower half left the mattress. He was on his knees with his butt hauled up high. Rough hands traveled over his bottom, rubbing and stroking on his plump cheeks. Fat thumbs teased along the crack, sliding up and down for a few moment, and dragged outward – exposing his very secret flesh to the old man’s stare. It was too embarrassing he buried his face deeper into the pillow, he could only sob and clench his cheeks to defense.

“Open your legs, Doll,” the client ordered, Adam complied and the cuteness of the pink cock and the balls swayed between his slightly open thighs. Adam winced as the heated breathing against his buttocks told him a face was merely few inches from his backside, a warm nose prodded between his butt cheeks and with the tip of his tongue, the old man tickled on the balls, making Adam curled into a ball.

Adam sobbed into the pillow. But instead of stopping, Mr. M spread the cheeks even farther, and lick along the contours of the soft cheeks, causing more squirms from the lovely doll. The tongue then rest right on the boy’s tiny anus, feeling it clenching in fright. And gently, he started to stroke around it.

“I have to eat this.” His lips closed on the boy’s ass. A soft, wet tongue began to lick on his gripping anus. Adam bawled in shame. He thrust his hip forward to escape from his devouring mouth, but soon he was much immobilized as the old man seized a good hold on his laps. The tongue continued sliding aggressively over his hole, lapping hungrily up and down, trying to pierce through the spasming door.

Suffocated by tears, Adam pulled his face up from the pillow. He tried to elbow forward but Mr. M lifted him even higher, pressing his ass into the bearded face even more forcefully.

Mr. M abruptly grabbled on his tingling cock and squeezed tight. The sucking grew more frenzied, his sensitive flesh began to hurt. “Ahhh… EHHH…” The old man was determined to make his little boy submit to all the perverted demands, Adam gave up struggling, his screams turned to sobs, his tense cheeks relaxed. And the old man felt his surrender.

“That’s more like it,” Mr. M muttered on his still-sore butthole, then he puckered his lips and kissed it swiftly. Then more kisses. “Wider.” Slowly, Adam spread his legs wide enough to accommodate the round face. A tongue moved over his balls, then back up to his perineum, licking its way up. Gently Mr. M separated his tender cheeks, his tongue intentionally circled around the tiny hole but avoid touching it.

The licking became more ferocious, though it was only drawing circles around the entrance. And finally, it pierced right on his hole, “Ahh…” Adam jumped and moaned, but he had thickened his voice to cover his pleasure. The tongue glided over his tight button, bringing him to a level of joy he had never dreamed of. Delighting in the soft, wet and hot tongue against his sensitive flesh, Adam whimpered softly. His penis tingled and throbbed in a mix of shyness and anticipation.

The mouth pulled back, giving the boy’s wet bottom one more appreciative kiss before its owner backed away. Mr. M maneuvered himself farther toward him, pulled a glass jar out from the cabinet next to the pillow, and retreated back behind the boy. “Still,” the old man commanded. Big fingers, greasy and icy ran down his crack –

“AHHHHH!” Adam recoiled involuntarily, he pushed up and turned facing the old man, then elbowed back till his back hit on the wall.

“Why?” Mr. M laughed out loud, “I haven’t done anything yet,” digging his fingers into the jar clear gel again he moved toward between Adam’s thighs.

Adam sat up and curled up his legs to cover his butt. He shook his head, trembling, and he tried not to cry.

“Open,” he commanded sharply. Adam froze before letting Mr. M smearing the gel over his anus. “You know what happens now, don’t you?”

“Sir?”

“I’m preparing you with my fingers first. It’ll help you take me in easier later. You understand?”

Adam’s eyes dropped, he blushed, despising himself for nodding his agreement on letting the fingers in. He grit his teeth, watching Mr. M’s hand went between his groin, the coated middle finger began to seek entrance to his most private hole. The fingertip slid inside the tight ring of his anus, then pushed in, swept down the ring of his sphincter. Adam yelp. It was a scalding tearing pain, like cutting off a layer of flesh, like _last time_ …

“It won’t hurt. Just relax,” Mr. M withdrew, when he pushed in again, his ring finger joined. The boy screamed again but quieter this time. “Good boy,” Mr. M said again, his thumb rubbing around the boy’s tingling entrance.

“You’re so tight,” The old man thrusting his thick, rough but flexible fingers, twisting their way against the boy’s throbbing wall, stretching his tightening anus ring, “This feels so good, right?” He pushed deeper. While the teenager squeezed his eyes close and grabbing the bed sheet, bawling like a child waiting for the punishment to pass, the old man was too busy swirling his fingers around the inside as if he was searching for something. The fingers withdrew and thrust back in swiftly, then suddenly pushed upward–

“UHHH –” Adam groaned and his hip thrust in the touch. A flush of shame ran through his face: this time he could not stop moaning as the fingers kept stroking against that spot.

“It’s here, right?” Mr. M poked on the button again and almost got kicked off the bed by the boy’s long legs. “Very good,” reaching the jar, he pour the remaining gel on the pink cock, watching his Babydoll quivered as the cold, runny substance dripping pass his balls, spreading over his velvet pucker.

“Look at my hands, little boy,” he clasped his left hand on the boy’s lubricated cock, pulled and stroked, pumping his fist up and down the swelling stem with a rhythmic movement. His right hand approached the boy’s clutching hole, spreading more lube into the spasming sphincter when he inserted his fingers again.

Laying his head against the wall watching himself being toyed, Adam sobbed hysterically. The old man slid his fingers in and out of his butt, and finally, the third finger was added. He felt himself stretched wide, prodded fully open to the aggressive movements in and out of his pulsing anus,  hitting on the button inside him each time as they pushed in.

His penis was thudding tingling in Mr. M’s mean rubbing, veins throbbing in his ears and he the surrounding began to blur in his eyes. The fierce strokes on his lower half would not stop, Adam’s legs turned limp and jelly on the mattress, one more hard press around his cock and he spurted.

Abundant amount of creamy milk soar into the air and splashed down onto the boy’s sweaty tummy. “Spectacular. Spectacular,” the old man’s jaw dropped, astonished at the streams of hot cum that was still oozing out after the powerful shot. He pumped the teen’s cock until it finally stopped cumming. Placing the sensitized cock on the boy’s belly, Mr. M pulled up his own penis, stroking, while his right hand had never stopped moving inside the boy’s cute hole.

“Such a beautiful doll,” the old man was half-grunting now, going into a trance looking at the boy’s whose eyes half closed and mouth half open. “So… beautiful…” He muttered between his breaths as if he was passing out any moment, then he looked down. “Ah… Better now…” taking air in even bigger gulps. “Lay down, on your back.”

Adam complied, nervously clutching the corners of the pillow under his head. “Closer,” Mr. M grabbed the boy’s soft waist and positioned his mount to his groin, then threw the slender legs on his shoulders. Adam froze with panic, recalling how Travis had broken his flesh, now the old man’s cock rubbed over his smarting anus… “Don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me…” He blurted.

“I won’t hurt you,” Mr. M said, right away, he stiffened his cock with his index finger push them both in. The lubrication from their earlier activities was copious and the cockhead and finger penetrated the boy with ease. “Now say goodbye to your babyhood,” he forced farther inside. The boy was split, screaming till his lungs were empty. Tear gushing from his eyes.

“Awww… Good boy. Good boy,” Mr. M raised his voice unnaturally high. He somehow sounded like talking to a toddler or a puppy.

“It hurts… IT HURTS…” Adam bawled. It hurt so deep. Not simply because his hole was not big enough to handle a fully erected cock plus a finger, but also the darkest shame and embarrassment of being ruined again. 

“Really? I’m sorry.” Hugo was right, the old man’s voice was triumphant. He pushed in a little farther and gasped in satisfaction at the boy’s beautiful cry, “Aww… it’s okay.” There he removed the finger and went on sinking his whole cock into the clenching hole.

Last time, despite the pain he could still feel Travis’s cock like a heated sword rose inside him, but Mr. M’s cock felt much gentler. Without the finger, the pain passed really soon. The warm member sliding in and out, moist and smooth, it just felt _strange_ , strange sort of good. Though the thrust became more savage, it did not even hurt.

With each pound the old man thrust as deep as he could into his narrow tunnel. The cock prodded against the spot, filling him with a wild ecstatic happiness, Adam could not help but to respond with a groan every time Mr. M pressed on his button.

“Damn it… Damn it…” the old man was gulping for air like a man just got rescued from drowning. Drawing half of the cock out and slammed back in again till his laps slapped loud on the boy’s cheeks, he kept murmuring and swearing under his breath. “You feel damn good… such a tiny ass… amazing…”

So much embarrassed by the weirdest compliment he had ever heard, Adam threw his head to the side, his hand slightly pulled up the pillow trying to cover his face.

After a while, Mr. M stabbed the boy faster and faster. “Babydoll… Babydoll…” He grunted, fondling the soft chin and then grabbed, forcing the purring boy to face him directly. The old man’s breaths now turned to large pants, as if he was running uphill with a full load. Adam peeked through his thick lashes at the face above him: the round sweaty face screwed up, his eyes rolled back only the white part could be seen from his half lidded eyes. Suddenly there came a loud snort, the old man went limp both inside and outside. Hot liquid spilled inside him and the client collapsed heavily on top of him.

***

Adam sighed in relief, it ended much sooner than he expected. Mr. M, who almost died from over-exercise, rolled off and lay getting his breath back. Half giggling, half gasping. After a while he pulled off the bed and walked towards the table, pouring a full glass of brown liquid, looked pleased with himself.

Young Adam was still crying. He sat up wiping himself off with the sheet. The bed was a chaos, sweat and other substance stain spreading mess like his shame and horror. He hugged the pillow between his knees and his chest, he could not imagine he would be going through _that_ again for, perhaps, the rest of his life. Tears blurred everything around him, he did not notice Mr. M had been studying him for quite a few moment, till he landed heavily on the bed beside him.

“Drink this,” Mr. M passed him a glass, his voice much softer than Adam remembered but was still firm enough that brooked no disagreement. Adam took the glass and gulped, the burning liquor got caught up with his tears and ended up in his nose, he coughed ferociously.

“Gosh,” Mr. M said, patting on the boy’s back, “Are you alright?”

Adam’s hands were shaking violently, half of the liquor spilled onto the pillow. Waited till his cough subsided, he poured the remaining wine into his mouth. The liquor sent a river of fire down his throat, making him squeeze his eyes and mouth shut.

“You’re making me look like an asshole,” Mr. M took away the glass and wrapped the startled boy into his arms. After a while watching tears streaming down those glorious eyes, “Those boys, they usually wouldn’t wait to have a look into my wallet,” he said, wiping on the boy’s cheek, “Aren’t you even curious?”

Adam shook his head, he could not look at him.

“Then, maybe, you can stop crying and tell me what happened to you?” He waited for the boy’s response. Adam thought he was going to leave, instead, he left the bed only to pick up the clothes on the floor. He gently removed the pillow from Adam’s grip, covered him up with the shirt. “Don’t tell me they abducted you from the street. I’d shoot myself –”

“No…” Adam interrupted, holding the tears and swallowing them back down, “My grandmother’s grandson owes them two thousand dollars –”

“Your grandmother’s grandson?” Mr. M frowned.

“I was adopted –”

“So she sold you for her blood grandchild?” the sudden anger in Mr. M’s voice made Adam frightened.

“No! I came here… They were taking her away… how can I let her do this?...” Adam muttered, and the sobbing started again, “She treats me like her child… I love her…”

“That’s ridiculous. Why they want an old lady in the brothel?”

“I don’t know…” the trembling in his voice went on, “But… I can’t take this anymore… that’s shameful to death…” Burying his face deep into his palms, the helpless teen could barely speak right now. Soon he was in Mr. M’s fleshy and warm embrace.

“I bet their target has always been you, the beautiful, young, adopted boy, with a golden heart.” Mr. M shifted a little, and tapped the boy’s shoulder, “Take this.”

Adam took the shiny tiepin as he was told. The little gems around the edge of the pin twinkling even under the weakest light.

“Pin it on and go to the Central Park tomorrow at noon. My helper will take you the money.” His words stunned Adam completely, he could only gaze at this unbelievably kind man with wide eyes. “Don’t lose it, those are real diamonds. Even if she doesn’t appear, this tiny thing’s worth more than two thousand.”

“Sir…” Adam looked at Mr. M, waiting for him to break the silence, however they did not talk again. They got dressed. Mr. M gave him a little smile before slamming the door open and yelled at Lola. From then on, Adam could not follow what was happening: held by a few huge men in black suit, he was said to be taken into custody for robbing the rich client. He was half lifted when the men dragged and hauled and pulled him to the door, then blindfolded, he got thrown onto a leather couch. When someone sat next to him, he heard the door closed and realized it was the backseat of a roomy car. Someone leaned over and made a move to take his hand, “I can’t take you home. Tell me a place where you can walk home safe.”

“Ricci… Fine Tailoring,” Adam murmured and the car started moving.

“What’s your real name?”

“Adam… Adam Lambert, sir,” Yes, his _real name_ was Adam, and the family name he had been hiding all these years.

“Adam, Adam, if we didn’t meet in such a situation, I’d love to keep you and take care of you for the rest of my life. Poor thing,” now both rough hands rubbed lovingly on Adam’s shaky ones, “You wanna go home, right?”

Adam nodded.

“Right, go home good boy,” his fingers stroking on Adam’s cheek, “Don’t go to the bad people anymore. Give your grandmother the money, let the adults handle it. Understand?”

Adam nodded again. When he was certain his emotion was under control, he said, “Thank you, sir.”

“Tonight will be our little secret. Sweet Adam, can I have a hug?” Adam opened his arms and fell into Mr. M’s chest, offering the kind old man his most genuine and heartfelt thanks.

The car stopped.

Getting off the car, removing the cloth over his eyes, _“Don’t turn back”_ he was told. The exhausted boy lowered his head on the way to his bed, where he believed was the safest place in the world. The visit to the slum remained in his mind like a vivid nightmare.

***

He left the room in midnight and came back by dawn, none seemed to notice the great danger he had been in. Grannies woke their boy up as usual, peers ignored the existence of their most fearful competition as always, but of Clark there was no sign. Others said Clark was sick but who knew if he was in trouble because of the brothel’s loss of their newest acquisition? Anyway, Adam skipped his lunch to sneak out to the park, better not to have Clark around.

Where should he meet Mr. M’s helper? At the slide? Near the pond? Adam stood at the main entrance awhile, peeking around with nerve, he was so ready to hide if familiar people walked by.

“Hey!”

Adam jumped in a loud voice of a lady came from his behind.

“Eh? Little tailor?”

“Madam… Good afternoon…” to his bad luck, it was the housemaid of Sauli’s. A heat of shame flushed him from his neck up, with such a dirty soul he had right now it would be a disgrace only to think of Sauli’s name. “S- Sauli…”

“Ah, Mr. Koskinen’s back home. It’s a shame he can’t take that suit with him, he loved it he kept talking about it.” There she pulled out a big envelope, “This is for you.”

“What is it?”

“A thank you letter and your wages may be.” She stared at the envelope in Adam’s hands, waited for him to open it till she looked up at him and saw his reddened face, “I’m just curious if you get more salary than I do. We won’t ask our boss, you know.” And with a smile she turned to leave.

Of course she would be curious, the envelope was almost stuffed to break. If what Sauli had put inside was banknotes, it might be sufficient to cover Dorothy’s loan, and he could even return the invaluable tiepin to Mr. M. But at that moment, a long letter from Sauli would be the best cure to the savage heartache. Took a deep breath, he snapped the envelope open –

Inside was a tidy pile of new banknotes, a memo written: _“Sweet Adam, stay healthy and happy.  – M”_

“No way… No way… he can’t be…” Adam muttered to himself… Sauli, the great house, the housemaid, and… the chubby man in the portrait he saw in Sauli’s room…

 

~End of Chapter 3~

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos/ comments if you like this :3  
> Your support is my fuel. 
> 
> Find me on Twitter: @BulgieLuvsMe  
> xoxo


	4. Truth... and Dare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The traumatized boy's suffering seemed to be endless. Where on earth could he escape from his ill-fate? Who could he trust when what he found out was a lie after another?  
> "“Oh, my dear – ” She reached her hand to Adam’s hair and Adam pushed her hand away instantly. Just as she had inflicted this severe wound on him, he would do the same to her.  
> “Don’t touch me! I tried so hard… Why can’t I be good enough?… I sold my dignity for you and that’s still not enough to make you stay for me!” Adam wailed hysterically, his veins popping up on his forehead. His face blazed red and his hands clenched into fists. Adam’s vehement froze everyone. Never had they seen his rage like that. “What can you do in a brothel? They don’t need you there! Why don’t you take my money?”  
> A great flush of violent anger rose up like fever. Wresting the pack of money from her hand, he bawled at her deafeningly, “Throw it away! BURN IT! BURN THIS DIRTY MONEY!” He threw it across the room toward the fireplace. The full envelope hit heavily onto the unburnt logs.  
> " 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~  
> This is a rather long chapter :p  
> Work has been crazy. I hope you'll find this worth the wait.  
> :*
> 
> Thank @DirtyBinary for her beta :* :3
> 
> ~
> 
> Leaving Kudos and comments is much much appreciated :3  
> Your support is my fuel to continue writing!  
> muah!

The shop was not as crazy as usual. In Clark’s absence, Adam’s afternoon was even more peaceful – no one would start the humiliation when the axis of the gang was not around. Whether Clark was in trouble because of the ‘robbery’ in the brothel last night was none of Adam’s concern. He was agonized enough about how to hand the money to Dorothy without telling her about the brothel.

The last customer sought Adam for measuring that day was a young man. He stripped his clothes off until he was naked to the waist, as if he was there to flaunt the prominent and firm muscle on his body with no excess fat. His skin was tan and it shone a healthy glow. Everything just reminded Adam directly of tiny Sauli… The blonde foreign boy small and bossy, with an intriguing exotic accent. Although he had not the chance to peel the clothes off the pretty Nordic boy, he could totally imagine what was hidden underneath the fabric…

 _Cough, cough_. The customer made small noises in his throat. “Daydreaming?”

“Er… I was thinking if you would like the shirt to be tighter.” What a smooth lie Adam had just told. Then, the customer flexed his muscles, making his skin ripple. “Hum… understand…” Adam had to force himself to swallow a snicker. The interesting customer then turned his back at Adam so to have his shoulder width measured.

Amazed by the magical sight in front of him, Adam’s jaw dropped with his brow raised to his forehead – across each of his shoulder blade was a painting of a swallow; the birds with gleaming black and blue feathers flying lively toward his spine, their long tails flow freely toward his biceps.

“What is this? How did you draw that on your body?” Adam asked, unblinking. “Did you dye it?”

The customer pulled his arms backward. The birds flew closer to his spine as the scapula moved. “Give me a discount and I’ll tell you, tailor.”

“I’m only an apprentice, sir.”

“Hah!” He chuckled, turning back to grab Adam’s arm. “It’s called a tattoo, little boy. Ink, pain and blood. It hurts like hell. But once it starts you won’t let it stop.” He dug his thumb into the teen’s flesh and began to rub. “First you get the ink and pin. Then puncture the skin. And one by one you stab, stab, stab in the colors.”

“Ouch…” Adam shoved his hand off. His eyebrow pinched together imagining the needle in his flesh. Adam might have taken a step back before resuming the measuring.

“Look at you, silver blonde, fair-skinned, you just blend into the wallpaper. Get a tattoo so the ladies know you exist.”

***

Despite the horrifying tone of story teller’s, the tattoo tale was quite fascinating. Adam could not shrug off either the beauty of the pain as told by him or his Sauli-like body. He slept badly, the swallows soared through the sky, across the oceans, and landed on Sauli’s naked chest. The colors of their feathers were such a nice match with the tiny blonde’s toasted golden skin. So fine. So luscious. The bossy boy suddenly pulled his hair and Adam woke in a cold sweat on his heated skin. 

The early summer night was so hot. It was like someone had sprayed hot mist onto this skin, very uncomfortable. He wanted nothing more than to bathe. He grabbed another pajama and dashed to the bathroom. Before closing the door, he had already taken everything off.

Pulling away the bathtub cover, he was so eager to jump into the full tub of water. But still, the considerable boy would use a mug so to save water for the grannies’ use the next morning. He moved a little chair next to the bathtub, sitting with his legs slightly apart.

The first cup of water poured over his torso. “Ooooh…” Cold water burnt on his heated skin, he quivered. Goosebumps rose from scalp to toes. So another mug, chilled him to the spine, and then two more mugs poured to his chest, now it felt all cool and fresh.

Then the weird feeling like someone was pinching him drew his eyes lower. Looking down to his chest, the pink area had shrunken and turned a little rosy, the two peas standing up in the middle of the rosy pink. He had never looked at himself like that before. Was that what Mr. M had seen?… He pressed on the erected peas, it felt so strange that he blinked spontaneously. A flush of heat rushed to his face. He cooled it down with another mug of water.

He so foamed up the soap. Bubbles rose up from his hands. A few more good rubs, a little mountain of white cotton was built. Skillfully he gave it a light blow, bubbles flew up to the air, raining down slowly like tiny drops of gems. It was a little secret he would never tell even Dorothy, that he was still very into his childhood game in the bath.

 _“Sweet… and, soap.”_ Adam leant down and took a deep breath, refreshing and soothing with a light smell of… pleasantness and happiness. He had been using this soap for his whole life, if that was his scent to others’ nose, he would definitely not mind.

Smoothing the foam over, he washed carefully, too scared to examine his rib that had just been healed. But later he found it did not hurt anymore. Moving his hands over himself, he wondered what had happened to him that he felt like exploring a whole new world. Perhaps his arms would feel more… normal? The flesh on his arms did feel firmer, but not less velvety than his chest and back.

Neck, shoulders, chest, waist and tummy, he was loving the warm and smooth surface of his own flesh. The little body fat added an extra softness under the skin. From his tummy his hands roamed downward toward the laps, knees, calves, finally his feet. The legs were so long, slender and hairless that had been making him a laughingstock among his peers. How could they worth a million dollar to _him_?

Slowly, he went back to his inner thighs, studying. In addition to the velvet smoothness, there was paleness and tenderness that reminded him of his favourite milk pudding. His eyes then fixed on his groin, where an old man’s rough, bearded face had strayed for a long while the night before, what lying limply there was a great chunk of flesh, pink flushing underneath the whiteness, some freckles floating on top. He had been living in this body year by year, now he wondered where the thickened penis and the sprouting pubic hair had come from. It was absolutely not ugly, just strange. But, _he_ called it _cute_.

The confusion continued as he found his right hand had somehow wrapped around the base of his own cock. Then the it began to stroke. With the thick foam in his hands, his hand glided along the full length smoothly, pulling up to the plump head and dragging back down to the root.

He stiffened a little. Grabbing a tighter hold on it he fastened up the massage on the shaft, the feeling of the skin being stretched soothed much of the pain on his swelling cock. His legs shot outwards more so his left hand could reach his stinging balls. While moving his fingers gently on the balls, he stroked his cock harder, feeling its veins pulsating in his hands, watching it got instantly filled up doubled its size.

His heart pounded in his ears, he went numb from his legs to the top of his head that he had to lean on the bathtub for support. The thinning foams still allow him to pump himself swiftly without any uncomfortable friction. His face seemed to be going relaxed, he had no more strength to hold his lower jaws from dropping, his eyelids were getting heavier…

As he closed his eyes, he got into the world of new sensation. Although he knew those were only his _own_ hands, the warmth, the moist, the sound… resemblance of the night before. No one had ever touched him like that. Mr. M had introduced him to another universe of arousal where he was now so earnest to get back.

He stroked much more intensely, slippery pre come coating his hand. Like what Mr. M had teased him last night, his cock was drooling. Yet it felt different. It was, _nearly_ perfect.

Perhaps, _there_? “Ugh…” He held back a moan as he tried to rub against the slit under the head. It was way too sensitive his finger seemed rough, but the flashback of Mr. M’s tongue sliding around it was arousing enough to get his cock throb. The way Mr. M wet his cock with his agile tongue, and the half-gentle, half-violent suckle… Now he was feeling awesome, but, not even close to _that_ …

Gingerly, he slipped his left hand down a little farther. He hesitated, bringing along the remaining foam on his groin then moved down to his butt. Separating his fingers, he slipped the middle one into the crack. As he did, the fingertip encountered some flesh which felt delicate and fragile like the inside of his mouth. Moving carefully toward the bull’s-eyes, the ring of muscle where _Sauli’s dad_ had rolled his tongue on, the very door that he had entered – there, his both hands paused immediately, his face flushed with remembered shame. _“Sauli’s dad? What am I thinking?”_

He still remembered mom had said the places where the underpants covered should not be seen or touched by others. He might not be forgiving himself for liking the shameful moment, but now his curiosity was greater than his guilt, his left hand roamed back to find _that place_ again.

He hooked his finger, pressing right on his anus. It was too tightly shut that he did not dare to push through. So he moved his middle finger back and forth along the crack, brushing across the tight entrance over and over. The tenderness of his own caress sent a raw shiver all over.

Gently his right hand applied more pressure, embracing his cock with rougher strokes, like how Mr. M did with his mouth. He could hardly tell if the sensation was pleasure or pain when the old man was eating his cock, but it made him choke with his breath just to think of it, till all he could do was to lean his entire weight on the bathtub as he lost his balance.

With the stroke on his penis going on, his left hand began to explore for the right button to perfection. Tummy and waist were tender, but not as sensitive as his neck. The hand travelled back to his chest, his erected nipples hard and soft at the same time, circling around the hard peaks was such an interesting feeling, yes, he was so close to the top of happiness.

His gasp increased, he started to sweat, his eyes nearly blacked out. Hot fluid going through his shaft, gushing all the way to the tip, he seized harder around his cock and increased the speed on the stroke, his legs spasmed involuntarily. And with a soft groan, he ejaculated.

It felt _almost_ perfect. He had to admit that he would never experience perfection again without _his_ help. And he also knew that he should not be missing anything from that nigh of complete mortification.

Quickly he washed away the creamy substance on the floor and rinsed off the soap on his body. As soon as he poured the last mug of water on his head, a flash of light brightened everything turning the night to a one-second morning. Adam’s eyes shot to the window, the same lightning of horror blazed the dark into whiteness again illuminated a face at the window–

“AHHHHHH–”

There came the deafening thunder and both Adam and the man outside fell to the ground. Adam clawed and ducked behind the bathtub. “Gran… GRAN…” He bawled. Please… the guy did not come through the window… he could barely defense himself with his shaky limbs. The horrified boy pulled his waist up straighter, peeking over the bathtub. What a relief that the guy had gone.

“It’s only thundering, Adam,” a granny shouted outside the bathroom.

“I… I’m okay!” but his voice still dried with fear. A man with dark brown hair curled messily on his head, bushy eyebrow… That must be Travis. The young master had come for him. Hurriedly he wrapped a big towel around himself, grabbed his clothes and rushed back to his bed.

“Awww… silly boy! You’re always flashing us old girls good things.”

The granny’s laughter did not matter, he was safe and sound now, in his bed under his blankets, surrounded by the caring old ladies.

***

Since the boy’s return yesterday, the boss had become very excited. In the past few weeks, new customers kept seeking Adam, mostly because of Mr. Koskinen’s comments of his professional skills and nice attitude had given him a good reputation. Also, a few ladies came for the rumored exquisitely handsome young man. Whatever the customers were looking for, as long as the boy could spin their desire into fabric and arouse their appetite in fine clothing, the fortune that was waiting for them would know no limit.

Now that the customers’ long-awaited boy was back to work, how Nathan wished to hang an “Open for Booking” signboard on him. That morning after Adam’s return, Nathan summoned him to his room.

Knocking on the door, opening and closing it quietly, the boy was so polite and graceful as always. Why couldn’t Travis be more like him?

“We’re going to the cloth merchant next month. We’ll spend a night in their palazzo. Don’t take any booking from the 15th to 16th, okay?” Not only did Adam have the greatest eyes to tell if a bolt of cloth was uneven in a glance, the cloth merchant’s showroom was where the ladies of the town would bring their personal tailors to pick the latest fabrics. That would be the best time to formally introduce their new rising star.

“Yes, sir.” Adam bowed his head sleepily.

“I didn’t have time to talk with you yesterday. Is everything alright?” Nathan asked with a concerned look. Adam nodded. “How’s your health? You look dreadful.” No one knew the Master was only worried about the four customer fittings he had arranged the boy that day.

“I just… didn’t sleep well,” Adam stammered. “Last night… when I was bathing… young Mister was at the window…”

“No, not again.” His voice was harsh. “If you’re always whining about trivial matters–”

“Sir, I’m not whining– ”

“If he’s only stealing–” He shrugged, “Or _taking_ a glance of you, or simply checking if you’re fine, it’s harmless.”

“NO! That’s horrible! I’m so scared. I can’t sleep. I can’t focus. I can’t work!” Adam clutched his fists and snarled bluntly, but then he realized he should not have yelled at the Master.

“Enough?” Nathan said sternly. “Adam, remember seven years ago you came here begging for a shelter? You were bought as a servant and yet I treasured your talent, I gave you opportunities, I tolerated your rebellion and temper. But you keep telling me you’re taking everything for granted and your arrogance is growing very irritating.”

Even though he had none golden tongue, the teenage boy was naive enough to agree to all his words. _Rebellion, quick temper and arrogance?_ Those were never the qualities of the Adam he knew. It was such an obvious lie that he did not want to look at the boy as he said it. He glanced hurriedly to the window and stepped toward it before he continued on the rebuke.

“ _Never talk back. Never ask questions. Never offer any opinions if you’re not asked to._ These are the basic rules for servants in every house. You say whatever you want, you have one day off every week, you eat the same things your maters eat, or even before your masters do.” Busted. Dorothy had been feeding him with the food from the masters’ kitchen. “Most of the lemons we buy are for you, but you’ve never made me lemonade. The grannies said it’s good?

Nathan looked at Adam’s reflection in the window glass and saw him blushing and lowering his eyes in guilt. “If you were working for another house, you’d have been sold into slavery. Wanna know more the slave camp, where people are beaten, tortured, starved every day and still have to work?” Adam shook his head.

“There are many tortured artists who can create great pieces of art, son. You have to be strong to become one of them. Tailoring industry is not for spoiled kids. I don’t blame you, Dorothy and Jerome should not have spoiled you.” He said in the same tone with which he had taught Adam every tailoring skill.

“Sir, it’s not their fault…” The teen said quietly.

“Come.” Suddenly the boss signaled Adam to the window, and pointed to the street. Adam’s eyes followed where Nathan was indicating, onto a big-bellied teenage girl in blue servant uniform. “Whose baby do you think it is?”

Adam’s gazed at Nathan, looking for the answer. And waited.

“Must be her master’s.”

A wild jump in his stomach, “Sir… I don’t get it…” Adam frowned, looking sullen. So, that was neither about his temper nor the food?…

“We should have let you know, but then we all forgot how much you’ve grown,” Nathan said gently, turning to the teen at last. “It’s a servant’s job to serve in whatever way the masters want. There’s something you couldn’t do as a child, when you get older, it’s normal your masters may start asking for it. Not all servants would have the chance. You can see it as a kind of compliment that you’ve got something your young master appreciates.”

Adam frowned, his eyes narrowed, his mouth fell half open, his face was distorted in disbelief. To think of such an act of gross indecency could happen to him again, anytime soon; to think of the man who had almost beaten him to death, ripped his clothes in front of a dozen of people and torn him open… That night rose up in front of him… He found it hard to breathe…

“I care about your feelings, Adam. That’s why I’m covering everything up. People can be very vicious. Everyone knows Travis’s a rich, young, notorious guy who whores around stirring shit. But you? To them, you’re a nice, good boy. They won’t accept a single flaw on you. If they found out what’s happened between you two, you’d be the servant who offered himself in exchange for the apprenticeship. People would doubt your talent.”

Adam nodded and for that second he thought he could really believe all the things the master said. He had never been so speechless. How could these be true? Staring at Nathan through the dews in his eyes, Adam started shaking his head involuntarily.

“He’s been very cooperative. He missed you but I asked him not to bother you before you’ve fully recovered. Even if he goes to you again, at least you won’t get a big belly. It’s not that bad–”

“Could you please stop –” His voice was cracked with agitation. “Please–”He choked on his tears. _‘Please don’t let it happen again_ ,’ he failed to finish the line.

“Look, you’re crying again. Have you ever seen other tailors cry? That’s the difference.”

Though Adam managed to swallow all the tears, his breath was hitching uncontrollably. He did not know what else to say. There Nathan grabbed his shoulders and shook him firmly. Adam looked at him, then dropped his eyes and lowered his head. The silence grew, and the master forged the end of the conversation early.

“You’ll be working in Jerome’s room from now on, he’ll coach you directly. Are you happy with the arrangement?”

He nodded slightly. “Yes… sir…” he said between his breaths.

“Good,” Nathan patted the teen’s cheek. “Back to work.”

The boy loitered for a moment as if he had more to say, then he turned and moved toward the door, remained frozen, and finally left the room and closed the door behind him.

***

The factory was cold and haunted with the mixture of sounds: sewing machines punching on the cloths, scissors cutting on the fabrics, chalks sketching on paper, and occasion laughter from behind the apprentice’s sewing room. People seemed much happier without him.

 _Knock. Knock._ Adam opened the door, “Good morning, teachers.” He paced in and the old tailors’ room fell deadly silent. Just when Adam felt sorry to have interrupted the grandpa’s conversation, Jerome stood and welcomed his new pupil with his arms open.

“Ahhh, finally!” He embraced the boy, followed by a pat on the boy’s cheek. “This is my student, dudes!”

The old tailors’ welcome had instantly warmed up Adam’s heart. And yet his gloom was not helped by the fact that he was loved by the elders. He was _spoiled_ , the master said. He could no longer deny the truth as he found his childish self was always looking forward to the teachers’ encouragement and loving caress on his head. Now he knew he had to train his mind and focus on the job like a grownup.

His job of the day was to prepare 4 jackets for the fittings in the afternoon. What he got were pieces of cloths which had already been cut out according to the paper pattern. He had to finish off basting different parts together so that the customers could have a brief look on the final products.

Each jacket was a new challenge. As certain fabrics stretch more than others, sometimes he had to go with his gut and change the roads on the paper patterns so to trim off the excessive parts before sewing them together. Finally, everything was fine and the quality jackets were what he could be proud of. He was so named “The boy who can talk to the fabrics” in the very first morning he spent with the experienced tailors.

Besides helping with the fittings, Adam spent his time watching Jerome and the others. While everyone had a different tailoring style, it was a very beneficial day for the young talent to absorb new tricks to improve his work.

To wrap up the day, he studied again the tuxedo jacket he had made for Sauli, flaws were too many to be amended. He put the mannequin to the corner, turned off the light, left for the house with the hope to give Sauli the best birthday gift one day.

That evening at the dining table, the grannies were having fun listening to the boy’s verbal diary and his laughter that broke out before he could finish the words. But Dorothy was sitting back straight with her eyes stuck to the table. Her quiescence made her seem almost absent, and she went back to the bedroom right after dinner. As if she could sense the boy was covering up his deepest darkness.

The ladies all shot their gaze on the boy. Then they cleared the table and left for the kitchen to do the dishes, leaving Adam and Dorothy alone in the house.

“Gran?”

Dorothy sat by the window in her room, enjoying the slight breeze brush through her hair that early summer night. Adam stood at the door till she noticed him. “I’m tired,” she said without turning, “If it’s not very important we may talk later.”

“Are you okay?” He stepped carefully to her, kneeling down by her side. He tugged on her sleeve but she shoved his hand off.

“GET OFF!” She turned to him finally, her eyes were blazing with anger.

The boy was shocked, his eyes flew open wide. “Why?... Are you alright?...”

Dorothy suddenly seized hard on the boy’s right ear, “Since when you became so naughty? Where did you get the money? I hate thieves, I hate liars and now you’re both!”

Adam whined in pain. “What… what money?”

“The two thousand dollars and the diamond tiepin under your pillow!” She pulled and twisted his ear. “You stole from the shop, didn’t you?”

“No – NO! It’s from a very… rich customer…”

“A rich customer? WHO?”

Adam hesitated, then stumbled, “S – Sauli’s dad… ahh… It hurts…” He grabbed on Dorothy’s forearm, pleading her to let go.

“He’s on another continent. How could he give you the money?” She almost tore the boy’s ear off.

Adam looked at Dorothy, blinking back the tears, “I didn’t lie… I earned it... for you…” Despite the pathetic look he was showing her, the harsh punishment went on. She slapped him with another hand as he refused to tell how he actually earned such huge money overnight.

She snarled, with the most fearful tone Adam had ever heard from her, “I don’t need your money. Return it to whoever you stole it from and apologize to its owner, you hear me?” The boy looked at her, his lips squeezed shut still, sobbing with no response. There she slapped him again, and his silent sob broken into bawl.

The granny let go in the boy’s plaintive wail. There was a long pause before Adam stood up to leave. As he did, he could see she was also crying, but she would not to meet his gaze.

 _“Look, you’re crying again. Have you ever seen other tailors cry? That’s the difference.”_ Once again, he was proved to be a spoiled kid. He was only six when Roland hit him on the face, but he did not cry back then. What had made him so weak and a whiny crybaby? He climbed to bed and curled in on himself, trying to retrieve his long lost courage in his dreams.

***

The old tailors’ room was a fortress deep and mighty that shielded him from Clark and his gang’s humiliation. Yet Adam’s days as old Jerome’s pupil was another world of a tough war.

His day started at 7.30am, half an hour earlier than other apprentices, and ended at 5.30pm. By the time Adam arrived, most of the old tailors were already in the sewing room having their breakfast and little chats, enjoying the peaceful moment before the hectic day began.

Jerome was very much ‘practice makes perfect’ sort of teacher. From time to time Adam spent a morning sewing sleeves, and an afternoon hemming pants. He would appear at the boy’s table for inspections, not only to check the quality of the products but to make sure he could do it well at speed. Jerome’s _“Are you really happy with that?”_ and _“Do it again”_ were frustrating but they helped the boy’s skin grow thicker to criticism day by day.

The teacher was, indeed, very pleased to see the teen was willing to do what it takes to become a good tailor. Adam would not complain even he was only assigned to press garments and repair defective pockets, zippers and buttons all day long. He had acquired a wide range of basic skills in a month. Soon, he would be ready to make a suit from start to finish all by himself.

“Hey, boys, eat something first.” Once again, both Jerome and Adam were too into the teaching-and-learning time and did not realize the lunchboxes were already there. To Adam, there was one more reason to forget about the lunchtime: Dorothy was the one who made and deliver the lunchboxes. Instead of feeling being ignored by her, he would rather pretend not to know her arrival.

Jerome came sat down next to his boy, and put a hand on his back. “She’s gone. So… You want me to talk to her?” He asked, after a while. Adam shook his head, overloading his mouth with the delicious chicken and egg sandwich. “No? Why? I’m sure it was a misunderstanding.”

Adam stared at him but he said nothing. Jerome got the message from his eyes like immediately. “Of course I know. You’re a good boy.”

“Sir, I’m not good enough.” Hurriedly, Adam swallowed the food in his mouth and spilled his feelings to Jerome, who was the only one left that could make him feel secure. “I am too spoiled. Every step I took, everything I did, every decision I made was so wrong, so silly. I only will hurt the people around me and damage myself and then cry my eyes out… I deserve to be abandoned…” His voice coarse with the tears at the back of his throat.

“No.” Jerome patted his back gently, “It’s cheesy but I’m telling you, you’re an angel to us. You’re always jumping around with great energy, telling silly jokes, making funny faces. You brought back joy and youth to us. We love you. We might have treated you a little differently, but you’re not that kind of spoiled kid.”

“I don’t know.” Adam stared at his hands. “When I was little, I hated everyone… I shut myself in my own world and turned out my hatred scared my mom away… And… I sold my dad’s sewing machine… I wasn’t good to my parents… Now I just don’t want to see gran suffer, but I’ve hurt her feeling...” His voice trembling as he tried to hold back his emotions.

“Boy, you’re kind and sweet but sometimes you can be very stubborn. I don’t like your self-pity. Quit it and take real action if you want your grandma’s forgiveness. Make her an apron, and then tell her everything.” Jerome put his hand into the boy’s blonde fuzz. “Rainstorm’s coming tonight. Finish it and leave at five.”

Adam nodded and smiled back gratefully. Dorothy had been punishing him with her silence for a month, hopefully the floral apron he was sewing could break the ice.

***

When he returned, the delicious smell of feast food – roast meat, bacon, spiced chicken – surround the little white hut. The milk pudding tonight was coated in burnt sugar topped with saffron. Adam was asked to be on his best behavior. He would not be touching the dessert before Dorothy’s return. Playing with the roll of apron in his lap, his fingers were itching to trawl the fork through the pudding.

Footsteps getting closer, Adam was already on the edge of his seat. He could not wait to rush to his grandma and carry the bowl of freshly baked pastas for her.

The hungry teen wondered why the others did not feel the same excitement at all. “Why these foods? Who’s the birthday girl? Is it you, Gloria? Rosemary?” The grannies avoided meeting with his eyes. “Isn’t their birthday next week?” He turned to Dorothy but she had already stridden past him to the other side of the table.

“Er…” said another granny in the sudden silence, standing up with a glass of lemonade in her hand. “May you be healthy and gracious as always. All the best to you, Dorothy.” The atmosphere in the hut went into a swelling awkwardness. Everyone stood up and raised their glasses, only Adam was sitting there blankly.

He and Dorothy gazed at each other for a long time until the end it was the granny who dropped her gaze. Then, to her horror, she heard the bedroom door burst open. As she looked up again, he came back, panting, stuffing the full envelope of money into her hand.

“Say something!” He yelled.

“I cannot stay.” Dorothy said coldly, looking directly at him.

“You said I was like a grandson… You said you loved me… more than anyone…” he muttered, then repeated it louder, word by word, as if he were telling her as well as her grandson, Sean, who was not present. “You said _‘more than anyone’_!”

In the silence after his words, he understood that the bond between them had been damaged, or, maybe, the bond was only his wishful imagination. As Dorothy walked closer, he forced his head lower till what she could see were the top of his head and the tear on the tip of his nose.

“Stay for me… You can’t abandon me… I beg you…” He muttered with his hoarse voice. He could hear Dorothy’s weep too.

“Little boy… I must go… I’m so sorry…”

“Little boy?...” Adam took a step backwards. She went on telling him that she still cared a lot about him, that she wanted him to take good care of himself. It made him even sicker that he started to laugh. “You’re kind, madam…” And he did not know why he was giggling.

“Oh, my dear – ” She reached her hand to Adam’s hair and Adam pushed her hand away instantly. Just as she had inflicted this severe wound on him, he would do the same to her.

“Don’t touch me! I tried so hard… Why can’t I be good enough?… I sold my dignity for you and that’s still not enough to make you stay for me!” Adam wailed hysterically, his veins popping up on his forehead. His face blazed red and his hands clenched into fists. Adam’s vehement froze everyone. Never had they seen his rage like that. “What can you do in a brothel? They don’t need you there! Why don’t you take my money?”

A great flush of violent anger rose up like fever. Wresting the pack of money from her hand, he bawled at her deafeningly, “Throw it away! BURN IT! BURN THIS DIRTY MONEY!” He threw it across the room toward the fireplace. The full envelope hit heavily onto the unburnt logs.

Wrenching open the door, he disappeared through it. He started to run. He burst the kitchen backdoor open, storming out of the house.

***

He ran in the darkening evening street for several minutes, with his eyes nearly shut and his hand on his face to keep his leaking tears from being discovered. The smell of rain filled the air, the sound of thunder getting closer from the other side of the world. There were a few people rushing home with their hands over their head as the drops hitting on them started to get larger.

“Kid! Where’re you going? HEY!”

A man tried to grab him by his arm but Adam flew pass him. He seemed to hear someone yelling his name far away from his back. He turned but only to find the main street was not in sight. It was then raining so hard that he could not see anything. The stores, the market, the beautiful brick houses had all dissolved into a blur of dark behind him. He was not really sure how far he was from the town and what was before him. But something in his mind told him he should not be going back to the huge cage of the Ricci’s.

Rain poured down. He kept walking down the cold, muddy place where there seemed to be no one living around. He struggled through the rain. If the moon did not hide behind the clouds, if it were broad daylight, if he could see what was around him, he might found his way home, to where Roland lay.

“ _Adam._ ” Came a voice from somewhere. He turned but saw no one. “ _Adam._ ” And the voice came again, and this time, _he_ yelled, “ _Come home!_ ”

“Daddy! Daddy!” Was he home already? But the voice was definitely not Roland. Did he forget how his dad sounded like? Million droplets of tears streamed down his face, as intense as the rainstorm had got. “Daddy, I’m back! I’m here!” Adam burst into a run. No matter where he was heading, the voice would always come from a different direction. He dashed around for the voice until he skidded and fell over on the mud. And then the lightning flashed, he saw a dark figure stood before him. The figure staggered closer and closer.

“ADAM!” The man bent over and seized the boy’s hands, shaking them hysterically. “Adam! Adam! You’re here. I’ve been looking for you!”

“Looking… for me?...” Sitting on the ground, Adam swallowed and stared, too afraid to move. He did not recognize this silver-haired old man.

“Why are you still playing here? Get in.”

“But…” Adam hesitated but the grandpa picked him up and pulled him to a humble house, in which were only a table, two chairs and a bed to the wall. Though there was merely a very weak oil lamp, the flowing dust particles were still very visible inside. Hay, groceries and junk piled up and took up most of the space, sour smell got even stronger as the door closed behind him.

The elderly took the boy’s arm as if he would fall off the chair. “Adam, sit here.” Then he got into the kitchen.

Who was he? Adam was so confused. He did not remember serving any customer with walking problem. He stepped around the small place to look for some clues. The house owner was definitely a hoarder but everything was dry and tidily stored that nothing could explain the rotten smell. On the bed was a grey tuxedo jacket. Ignoring the terrible odor which became stronger and he walked closer to the bed, he was about the check its brand. The moment when the jacket left the surface, penetrating odor shot into the air. The sourness irritated his eyes and nose, Adam coughed with his eyes shut.

“Poor boy… Coughing… AGAIN…” The grandpa sobbed. Adam opened his eyes trying to blink back the tears and thus he saw the root of the odor: a young boy lying on the bed with his mouth hung open, his skin was the color of flour with purple and black coming from beneath the flesh, little worms crawling on his decomposing neck. Adam dropped to the ground, elbowing backward –

 _BOOM BOOM BOOM_. “HEY! HEY!” A teenager banging on the door then the windows and it was when Adam realized he was locked. “Why are you there? Come out! Come out!”

Helpless Adam bumped at the window but the wooden frame was too firm to be broken. “Harder! He’s gonna kill you! He almost killed my lil bro yesterday!” The boy said –

“YOU AGAIN?” The elderly suddenly burst out from Adam’s back with a huge chef knife in his hand.

“Hello… Er… Adam, rain has stopped so let’s come out for some fresh –”

Waving the knife at the boy outside, he yelled, “GET LOST! Adam isn’t playing with you naughty kid!” Then he turned at Adam, with the knife pointing at the boy but his angry face abruptly went soft and gentle almost like a mother.

“Adam, how many times should I tell you not to play with Edward? He doesn’t care about your health. Don’t listen to him. He just wanna play with you.”

“We’re best friends! I do care about him. I got him a doctor –” Edward pointed at the other house.

“TELL HIM TO KILL HIMSELF!” The old man bawled at Edward. “We have no more money to waste on that funny liquid! You know how bad it tastes? You know how much it has tortured my son?... It just burns his mouth and ruins his stomach… It doesn’t help him at all…”

Adam’s felt cold on his back. The grandpa stared back at him, making him to shake and step back involuntarily.

“Look at you. Aren’t you cold? Go to bed.”

Adam was forced to lie down to the bed. His eyes never left Edward’s gaze, till he saw Edward leaving, he panicked to tears. He was lying on the hard, wooden bed, next to a cold body. He could feel _him_ on his arm, _his_ flesh was stiff but jelly under the skin as if the melted tissue would leak out any moment. It was not the first time he was so close to a dead body, but he could never imagine death had come for him that soon. He could only lie in bed, watching the knife lingering around his chest and the old man’s hand on his face.

“My poor Adam… Chest hurts again? Don’t cry… Daddy made you your favourite potato soup…” Pressing hard on the boy’s forehead, he went on sobbing mess, “Lie here… Daddy feed you…You’ll sleep… You won’t feel this pain anymore…”

Fear paralyzed Adam’s mind, but not his limbs. He was not ready to die. When the grandpa limped back into the kitchen, he pushed up silently and ran back to the window. There he saw Edward and another boy each holding a chair in their hands and without a notice Edward threw it at the windows. Adam ducked, broken glass dropped onto his hair.

“WHAT IS GOING ON?”

Before the grandpa could limp his way out of the kitchen, another chair soared over Adam’s head and crashed on the kitchen’s doorframe. Hands pulled on his hair and collar, Adam stood up and climbed through the broken window with the boys’ help.

“EDWARD! I’LL KILL YA! I’LL KILL YA!”

“RUUUUUUUUUUN!”

As soon as Adam’s feet landed on the muddy ground, he set off. He should have thanked the two neighbor boys for their kindness, but he was allowed no time. Hearing the sound of doors slamming shut, he knew they had returned home safe, and so he sped up.

Rain had stopped and the cloud was then thinner. The moon lit up a few feet before him, but there was no way he could find the way back to the town or _home_. Eventually, he came to a narrow dirt path and decided to give up on his meaningless wandering.

Lying his back to the wall, he sat down with his legs spread, his arms feebly on his sides. He had no more strength to run. His eyelids were drooping. Although he was too tired to analyze anymore, his thoughts were going out of control.

Scenes of the night flashed back. The old father’s gaunt face and bloody eyes were clear signs of someone who was exhausted could not sleep. Vivid images of the dead, young boy, who also named _Adam_ , haunted. _His_ face was too pale and black and blue that his actual age was hidden, but from his features, he could be younger than Adam himself. Horrible disease had obviously drained the fortune of the family, and finally the poor dad had to send his son away with his own hands. The sick little boy’s last supper, a bowl of steamy potato soup, was something that would be despised even by the Ricci’s guard dogs.

Adam fell. Someone caught him and carried him to another place, where he could lie his head on _his_ laps. _“Lay there, my boy, you must be so tired. Will you forgive daddy?”_ It was Roland’s voice… the first time Adam felt so close to him in his dream… _“Just remember, daddy always loves you, although we have different hair. And, your freckles are the cutest thing in the world.”_ Not only could he hear Roland, he could smell him… the smell of liquor…

Then, Roland carried him to a spring garden, laying him down onto the soft grassland. A very light scent of jasmine rushed into his nose. It was _her_ perfume.

From far away, a slim lady with honey complexion was dancing and turning, her skirt flowing like the wings of angels. Her long, wavy dark brown hair freed and flowing down like a river. She was in the burgundy couture gown he drafted… Such a beautiful and elegant lady she was.

“Mommy!” He cried. She stopped dancing and turned at him.

“Sweetheart, you’re there!” She smiled, as warm and gentle as he remembered. She did not yell but her voice echoed in the air, “Come to me.”

Adam set off a run. “MOMMY… MOMMY…” He did not understand why he started to cry, perhaps he was scared by the fast growing grass, his legs soon sank into the green... “MA….ahhh…” He bawled –

Her hands slid under his armpits, he soared and landed immediately on her chest. “Adam, sweetheart, have you been good?” She kissed on his cheek, “Mommy missed you.”

“Ahhh… ehh…” He wanted to tell her everything, how much he wanted to go back in time, how much he had been wanting to be loved and accepted… Maybe, the very comfortable tapping on his little bottom made him fail to speak properly. “Ehh…” Instead of words, coughs took over his little throat.

“Awww,” she whispered at his ear, “Baby, it’s okay.” Her palm big enough to cup half of his face, she placed another kiss between his frowned brows. “I wish you will tell me how you feel one day, my little angel.”

“Ma…” the words choked in his throat, why couldn’t they come out? Adam threw his arms around her neck, mumbling his broken words… Softly, another kiss landed on his forehead–

“MOMMY!” Finally the word burst out. He threw his arms around the figure before him and instead of her face, beard scratched on his neck, followed by some breathy giggles on his skin.

“Do my lips feel like your mommy?” Travis laughed.

Quickly Adam shoved him away. The garden was gone. He was on the couch in Travis’s bedroom, but the fragrance was still there.

“Listen.” The young master seized him by the neck and threatened, “Next time if you’re leaving, leave naked. Every piece on you belongs to this house.”

Adam wondered if he had grown monstrous all a sudden, though Travis’s tone was firm, he was no longer as terrifying as before. “Joking. I won’t lose you again.” For a moment he thought Travis would kiss him again, but the young master only patted on his face and said, “Take a bath and relax. Bathrobe’s on the hanger.” And he left the room.

***

It was the most luxurious bathroom he had ever set foot in: a big chandelier as big as a dining table, marble everywhere from the floor tiles to the wall, the sink and the square bathtub. With a floor to ceiling window facing the garden, it must be a joy to have a bath during the seasons of flower. He stood there staring at the view outside, shocked to realize how clear he could see the little white hut from this angle.

In twenty yards distance, Adam saw a man knocking on the door, someone unfamiliar but definitely not unknown, and the light went on. Dorothy welcomed him with open arms. She must be clucking her tongue to see her dear grandson all wet and cold. In contrast to his drained and heated eyes, Sean must be feeling comfortable and loved. It made him mad with ache.

A drop of rain passed through the darkness. Once again a thick black curtain of rain was drawn down, shielding saddening scene from the boy’s sight, just in time.

On the spotless window glass, his reflection cried as rain hit on _him_ violently. _His_ hair half dry, flying messily up and down on his head. Adam frowned, _he_ frowned back. How long had he been straying to look so sorrowful and vulnerable? _His_ face was full of heavy shadows, darkness trapped beside his nose, under his brow and his cheekbone. Nothing was delightful to look at compared to Roland’s shining beauty. Perhaps Clark was right, he was ugly from the inside.

His clothes soaked sticking on his skin. The shirt that were made of valueless cloth fragments collected from the garbage bin, and the pants which were supposed to be picked up by a customer who did not show up eventually, Adam peeled them all off. While his own nude, puffy reflection ashamed him even more, he turned and climbed into the bathtub.

The hot bath had that lovely feeling that he remembered so fondly from his childhood. It relaxed the stiffness in his muscles, steam soothed the burning dryness in his eyes. Laying his head on the bathtub, he dozed off until it thundered and he woke up in a jump. Thunderbolt split the sky again, Adam leaped out of water toward the bathrobe, wrapped himself up and pulled the door open. It only took him two more seconds to jump into the bed –

The blanket flew up and a hairy hand shot out from underneath and seized his wrist, dragging him down to the mattress. Adam shouted, pushing the hand away, but the blanket only flew over his head and immediately an arm wrapped around his back.

The terrified teen screamed and tried to kick the blanket open. That must be the monster that punished children for not going to bed early. The arms were then holding him so tight that he could barely breathe, and the monster started to bite him. If he was still dreaming he had to wake up right now. “I’ll sleep! I sleep!” And there came breathy giggles on his neck.

“Did your mom frighten you into sleeping early?” Travis pushed the blanket off their heads. It thundered again and he broke into laughter as the boy blinked in shock. “Are you okay?...” He said between his laughs, “You’re killing me…”

It was not long before heat flowed up to Adam’s face. He would be twenty next birthday, not manhood but too old to cry for Mama or to be frightened by a child-eating monster.

Followed with a few sleek moves, Travis rolled down to the mattress and arranged the boy into his arms. He leaned over, brushing his fingers across the lovely cheek.

“So, what made you run away like a mad puppy?” Adam’s eyes flicking to the side, Travis went on as he know the boy was not spilling a word, “It scared the hell out of me when I was told you ran to that fucking slum. What if you met that goddamn serial killer? I might lose you forever.”

There was a serial killer in that village? Now Adam realized how lucky he was. He swallowed –

“Joking.” Travis giggled. Of course he was. Adam sighed, feeling stupid for believing his words. “But there’re slave traders, prostitutes and drug dealers. You don’t wanna see any of them.”

“How did you find me?” Adam raised his head a little, still not looking directly at Travis. “I didn’t even know where I was…”

“Our dog did. You remember Rickey? He wasn’t less anxious than I was.” He kept fondling the boy’s hair lovingly as he spoke.

“Rickey?” Adam looked at the young master in the eyes in surprise, “He shows his teeth whenever I walk pass the garden.”

Travis grinned at him, his eyes squeezed into the shape of new moon, fine lines appeared at the underside and the corner of his eyes, looking genuinely happy. It struck Adam that he suddenly looked younger and handsomer, or maybe it was the contrast between the old men around him lately.

For a villain, Travis did not look scary enough. But the crazy unruly hair was such a disaster. It made people wonder if he had ever comb his hair since he was born. And his bushy brows and newly grown beard added fearful factors to his normal-looking features. Adam now felt more shyness than panic. He had to lower his face. What look should he give to this man who had just saved him but assaulted him the other night?

“Sir… hmm…” Adam muttered. Travis’s _‘Yes?’_ was as quiet as his voice that he almost not have heard it. “Dorothy is leaving… I have tried so hard but still I disappointed her.”

“It’s not on you. She’s leaving because of Sean. Everyone knows it.” Poor the boy had been growing up with endless ill-luck and traumas. It moved his heart to see the agony on the most gorgeous face. “I shall help you rebuild your faith in life.”

“Sir, being with her, I feel like home… She said I was like a grandson –” He was cut half way on his sentence. Admitting he was abandoned again was like sprinkling salt on open wounds. But that did not hurt him as much as what Travis was going to tell would ever do to him.

“Of course! Coz you really reminded her of her grandson.”

“What?” Adam frowned as though it was a slap on the face. “Me and Sean?...”

“No, the youngest. That child died when he was twelve, a month before you came if I was right. I was like ‘YES! So we’ll have desserts other than that fucking boring milk puddings’, the kid loved it, but hell no, she’s still making it coz she’s feeding you.”

Emotions were stirring inside. Adam’s tremor had quieted the young master. He waited, longing for Travis to say he was joking again. After a prolong silence, Travis changed the topic awkwardly.

“AH! I’ll buy you something nice. What do you want?”

Adam shook his head. With so much love he thought he had been living with, he did not know how to be without it, or, how to accept the truth that the love had never belonged to him. “Please say that you are joking.”

“Come on! Why are you so attached to a stupid old woman? Did she fucking drugged your puddings? I should feed you the same–”

There was something in Travis’s language that inflamed the emotion in him. It came up burning on his throat. He rammed his hands on the mattress and pushed up – “That’s a lie!” – and with that he slapped across the man’s face.

It took Adam a great effort to swallow as he saw the tenderness in Travis’s eyes was replaced by the same beastliness like that very night, but with a different kind of anger. In his terror he saw Travis moved in slow motion.

Adam would have pulled back but he could not. His was only supporting his torso with a hand on the mattress, his body from the waist down was in such a strange angle that his coordination was gone. When Travis rose, he fell backward and curl his arms around his head. Even with his full strength, Adam was no match with Travis’s mighty arms, let alone when the cold, rough night had spent most of the energy of the starving boy.

It felt more like a bull or an unknown animal than a human being bumping on him. Adam’s head hit on the bedframe. As he tried to shove Travis away, hairy hands seized on the knot on his robe, dragged him down to the mattress then the waist belt went flying to the air. He was not even allowed to hide his bare flesh, his wrists were locked together in Travis’s right hand.

“You such a petulant spoiled child.” Travis muttered, forcing the boy’s right leg open with his left hand. He settled himself kneeling between the boy’s thighs and pulled his arms straight. “She is the one who lied. Why blame her fucking fault on me?”

Now Adam realized how naked the young master was. He had to hide his fingers in his palm or they would be touching Travis’s swaying semi-erection.

“I am not a bad person, Adam. I’m the most honest one out there. To be frank, they said you’re too young to have been corrupted, I say it’s bullshit. It’d be a waste if you stay unfucked. Men like me will wanna fuck the hell out of you and milk your baby face. If I have the luck to dine on your beauty and I shall give you a better life–”

“No… please, no…” Adam muttered with his last bit of courage. Wriggling only made his robe fell open more that he had to stop.

“No what? Her love to you was a lie. She lied to you and you loved her, I’m here yearning for your acceptance sincerely and you are pushing me away!” Travis leaned over, staring at the boy closely. Their hands trapped between their bodies. “How can I have you? I can buy you anything you want. What do you want? Diamond? Cars? Or just a lot of puddings? Tell me! How can I make you happy?”

Travis was clutching his wrists so tight till the his hands went numb. The desire in Travis’s eyes were not less naked than he was, if there was one thing Adam could ask for right now, he would ask the young master to let go.

“I – I don’t want anything–” Adam stumbled.

“You don’t want anything?” He said each word slowly and clearly, sounded almost angry. “What are you? Has my dad trained you into a sewing machine?”

Adam shook his head. What Travis was saying, he did not get it.

“Every man wants something. Don’t you wanna be a good tailor? It’s your job to understand human’s wants, trigger their desires, make them want more and more from you. If you don’t even know what you want how can you understand what your customers want? How can you make clothes they die to wear? Say what you want. Let it all out.” Travis said, so eager to show up the boy’s ignorance.

Adam gazed speechlessly at Travis, the vigorous fire in his eyes gave him more fright than the thunderbolts to fight against. “I… I –”

“Say it!”

“I don’t want to be bullied…”

“Say I _WANT_.” Despite the fierce tone, Travis loosened his grip in return to the boy’s obedience. Adam’s clutched to his robe right away to cover under his belly.

“I want… respect… I want… to be accepted… I want to be happy…” Purposely, Adam told him the things that, he thought, could never be bought. “I want love – ” However, rather than giving up, Travis went on teaching him the lesson that Adam would remember his whole life.

“That’s all?” Travis snickered in scorn at the back of his throat. “You know what? When you become the top of the industry, you can get all these.” After it was clear that Adam would not talk back, he continued. “From now on, I give you all my love. You should love me back, and I will lead you and help you to your way to succeed. That’s our deal.”

Love and help from a psychopathic abuser? Adam frowned at him, Travis smirked, but Adam did not return it. “I don’t… I can’t trust you.” He still found it ridiculous to have been touched by Travis’s unnaturally softened tone earlier.

“Who else can you trust? Dorothy? Or those other old ladies who concealed her lie from you? Jerome? He’s a benevolent old man. But if he had the power, he would not have been sewing in the back factory his whole life. My dad won’t let you outshine him before his retirement. No one else but I can help you in your career.”

Adam drowned into deep thinking. Travis seemed right, whereas he could be another complete nasty swindler. Kisses dropped on his forehead, nose and his cheeks, Adam did not wince. Then Travis grabbed and lifted his chin –

“I want to be the top tailor! I want to make daddy proud. I want his sewing machine back. I want to buy him a coffin. I want him to have a formal funeral!” Adam paused as he found he have just bawled in Travis’s face. He did not talk again until Travis had smiled and nodded his approval.

“And… I want my mom back! I want to apologize to her. I will make her the most beautiful gown and make her stay forever.” He never knew yelling out what he wanted would feel so right, but he wondered if his sudden greediness had annoyed the young master.

Travis chuckled. “I would give you mine if I had one. You can take my stepmother if you don’t mind.” His voice was so soft that was such a mismatch with his face.

“ONE MORE!” Before their lips met. “I’ve forgotten where my dad is resting… Promise you’d help me?...”

“I promise.” Travis hissed, pressing his bare chest against Adam’s. He licked the plump bottom lip and sucked the whole Cupid’s bow into his mouth. Suddenly he pushed up, “Ah,” as if he had recalled something, “You ain’t blonde, am I right?”

Adam’s brow raised in surprise, acknowledging the master’s brilliant observation. His heart pounding, how did he discover the secret?

Travis laughed, “Told you I’m the most honest person here.” He clenched him by the jaw. The grip tightened and Adam’s mouth fell open in the pressure. “Let me see your tongue, little liar.”

Through his thick lashes, Adam watched the young master running his tongue along his lower lip, waiting for him to obey the instruction. Suddenly the impatient tongue plunged into his mouth, making Adam shut his eyes in disgust. The fat, wet tongue flipped inside him, teasing on the side of his tongue that he had to move his tongue around to escape from the lick.

The invading tongue then slid under Adam’s tongue, and with a suck, the man pulled the boy into his mouth. There was nothing Adam could do, he did not want to anger the master. He loosened up and let Travis suckle on him, tasting him roughly.

“Lick my tongue.” Travis muttered with Adam’s tongue still inside his mouth.

The master’s tongue had the bitterness of cigarette mixed with the green taste of grass or herbs. It was not pleasant but Adam did not hate it. The softness, the warmth, the moist, the teen did not expect a tongue would feel like this. Why had he not felt this before? The energy of the man was melting him from the limbs. His legs spread limply on the mattress, his hands were then pinned beside his shoulders.

As Travis lay his weight on the boy, their naked bodies met. Too nervous to open his eyes, Adam shivered thinking of what was happening next. A big hand twined in his fluffy hair, rubbing on his scalp, forcing him into eating the master’s mouth until his nose prodded deep into the bearded face. Another hand slipped over his chest to his waist then went stroking on his back. Then both hands roamed freely all over him.

Adam felt heat spread from wherever Travis had landed on, from the back of his neck, to his chest, tummy and back. While his legs were cold without the touch, he crossed them around Travis’s warm ones. A second later Travis moved away from his lips to trace his jawline. Just as Adam thought the magical moment was gone, Travis got to his ear, licked on the lobe and whispered, “Good boy, I see you’re loving it.”

The tongue dived into his ear and made Adam moaned in surprise. But before Adam could taste the excitement again, the tongue pulled out and went to the back of his ear, trailing down to his neck for some other heated, wet but equally short kisses. Then the lips brushed over the edge of his left shoulder, “Who passed you these cute freckles?” The man suckled his way down till his tongue found the boy’s nipple, “What about this lovely pink?”

“I don’t know…” The breath was too hot like iron on his sensitive skin. “uhhh… ehh…”Never had he sounded more like a whimpering puppy when the lips nudged and began to massage on his right nipple. And as he expected, his left one received the same treatment few seconds later. Too soon, Travis set off on his journey again. Adam’s hands ended in Travis’s hair but it would be too shameful to beg for more kisses on his chest.

With a smirk, Travis looked up at the ravishing blonde. “Can you be cuter?” With that his hands patted on the teen’s tummy which made Adam covered his shameful fat immediately. “Why? Isn’t it cute?”

“Stop that, sir… I know I am chubby…” Adam whined.

“That’s baby fat. You’re a baby of course you have it.” Travis chuckled but this time Adam pouted back, he did not get this joke in any way.

“Your flaws make you perfect. They make you a human.” Pressing a kiss on his belly button, Travis said, “And a very cute one I can eat alive.”

Next he started to wriggle, slithering his way down, rubbing and brushing across the loveliest flesh his face, his lips and his hands had ever landed on. The scent, together with the velvety softness on the young boy’s skin was captivating, like honey, like candy… like a baby came out from a milk bath. He nipped on the soft belly, licked along the crook of the supple waist, sucked on the side of the plump hip. Delectable. If it was not nudity it would be the v-shaped line on the boy’s abdomen that deprived the boy of his modesty totally – it was playfully directing his devouring mouth to the swelling cock of the beauty.

Feeling beard scrubbing roughly on the very sensitive skin between his thighs and his groin, Adam clawed on the master’s shoulders, inhaling hard. What was he doing there? Sniffing, nuzzling, nibbling around his crotch but his cock was so untouched. Adam squeezed out a small groan with anticipation as Travis’s tongue was almost _there_ , but the tongue had slid back devouring his inner thigh before he could finish his groan. Too mean the young master was.

Stopping the kiss, Travis pulled back and sat between the boy’s open legs, his hands slid to the tender skin behind the knees. In the silence, Adam pouted back at the man’s sly smirk but the next moment he was screaming as his legs were brought up.

The young master knelt forward, his thighs bumped into the boy’s butt, their cocks crossed swords. His fully swollen erection appeared very tan in contrast with the teen’s glowing pinkness. “You have the cutest penis I’ve ever seen.” He was not surprised that the coy blonde covered his blushing face after his compliment.

“And these legs too, very beautiful.” Travis pulled those long, slender legs up by the ankles, stretched them to the straightest. Adam felt his calves muscles pulled tight with a great discomfort, but he was not allowed to bend his knees. Despite his pleading whimper, Travis went on pressing the legs down toward the shoulders with cute freckles.

“That’s superb flexibility, little boy.” The pressing went on till the little toes hitting on the headboard. Those legs were bent to the boy’s chest with ease and still stretched incredibly straight, the plump buttocks raised as the legs were going down. Way before Travis could marvel at the beauty between those delicate thighs, the boy had covered it up.

“I should have tied your hands.” Travis snapped the boy’s legs wide, making Adam squeeze his eyes shut and whimper. In the sudden pain, the lovely hands twitched and the pink cock bounced out of his grip.

“You hide nothing from me.” Spreading the legs to the maximum, Travis threatened, “Or I will have my friends to hold your hands for me.” The boy complied. Those lengthy legs were stretched almost horizontal, like what a ballet dancer would do as they jumped into the air, the very youthful and luscious feast exposed shamelessly for the world to admire. Travis laughed, so amused to hear Adam’s sob was more out of mortification than pain.

Now that the little boy seemed to be tamed, the master let the long legs rest on his laps, and finally he could take his time worship his living blonde doll. The exquisitely beautiful face like a sculpture, countless time he had studied it in the middle of the night when the boy was fast asleep puckering his lips like a baby suckling on his mama’s breast. Lines appeared untimely on his neck, working overtime with his head lowered did leave marks but they just would not add any age to his babyish appearance.

With the robe ripped open, every inch of the supple flesh was exposed. The trace of his wet kisses still glistening from the left shoulder to the collarbone. Close to the nipples the track curled itself around the peachy pink areola before sliding down and plunging toward the smooth groin. The fleece sleeves still clung to the boy’s arms and the robe wrinkled a mess on his back adding an unexpected licentiousness to this innocent being. Breaking his silent study, the _doll_ moved: Adam clutched his fists into the sleeves, with the fleece, wiping away the drops on his eyes, then his face.

“I say don’t hide your face. Are you not listening?” Travis’s slow and quiet tone sent an icy shiver to Adam’s back. So the hysterical tears that moved old Mr. M did not work on the young master at all. Though he slammed his hands back onto the pillow, the punishment seemed inevitable.

“Turn around.” The young master sounded calm but actually his mind had been racing frantically with all sorts of thoughts. He wanted nothing more than to bury his cock deep into the beautiful blonde’s tight ass. But the fact that he had screwed this naive angel once constantly reminded him to utilize his utmost patience. The boy’s bashfulness was adorable, but the bad habit of hiding himself had to be stopped.

Adam continued shaking as he turned over and held the pillow tight into his arms, the robe lifted to the middle of his back. His thighs cramped between Travis’s knees, he could feel his plump butt cheeks tightened and squeezed up into round meaty balls before the man’s eyes. A rough, big placed on each of his cheek. Ready or not, the right hand left his cheek –

 _SLAAAAAAAP!_ Adam gasped. The first struck was as loud as the thunder outside, sending shock through his bones. Feeling the left hand pulled up, the anxiety was overwhelming, he buried his face into the pillow – _SLAAAAAAAAP!_ – the second struck was even more intense that burnt his buttock immediately. He grunt into the pillow as the stinging pain started to heat up his right cheek.

“Let it out, damn it!” _SLAAAAAAAAAAP! SLAAAAAAAAAAP!_ The strikes alternated between the left and right, left and right. “SCREAM YOU STUBBORN KID!”

 _Scream._ Adam wanted to scream, but tears were flowing into the back of his throat, making him choke on his breath. The spanking only went on with a new ferocity. _SLAAAAAAAAP!_

“Ehh... AHHHHHHHHH!” This time, pulling his face off the pillow, an uncontrollable cry burst out of his throat, his waist and legs started to buckle, trying to shake off the incredible pain on his splitting ass. Sweat ran down his forehead joining the fresh leaks of tears.

“Good boy.” And yet the punishment for his disobedience continued. Enjoying watching pale ass flushing pink, rebounding from his every slap, Travis spanked the boy till his own palms heated. Crimson fingers marks spread across the voluptuous full pair of buttocks, soon there would be far more red than white. The obscenity filled his cock to the hardest, he could wait no more. Time to unwrap his prize.

He grabbed on the boy’s bathrobe, Adam lifted his arms not only to cooperate, but to save his arms from being pulled off from his shoulders. He teased the teen by dropping the robe in front of his face. Brutally Travis confiscated the last bit of sense of safety from Adam – the pillow was tossed to the ground – leaving him vulnerable to whatever torments were going to happen.

“Why don’t you beg me to fuck your tiny hole?” With his left hand on Adam’s waist to keep his upper torso prone to the mattress, his right hand cracked onto the plum ass cheek, “ASS UP!” He went on spanking till the boy’s ass raised high for the tiny hole to meet his eyes. “Keep this position or I’ll punish you.”

The erogenous boy so submissive was now flaunting his hairless crack in an overtly provocative pose. He spread the ass cheeks, the lovely hole twitched invitingly but at the same time saying it would take some effort to penetrate such a tight entrance.

“If I wasn’t in a hurry, I would love to eat your sweet baby ass.” Travis hissed, pumping his erection which was stingingly stiff, “You want me fuck you from the front or from the back?” He was panting and groaning in his own intense masturbation. “FRONT OR BACK! DAMN IT!”

“Back, sir…” At least his distorted face would not be seen by the master, Adam thought. Right away Travis’s pulsing cock was sliding in the valley between his butt cheeks, the mushroom head found his hole and positioned at the entrance. _‘Open your fuck hole for me,’_ he had to comply with the instruction. He stayed shivering for a moment, then slowly relaxed his muscle and the cock head forced through, his anus involuntarily tightened. The cock pushed in an inch more, Adam let out a sharp yelp of pain, the raw, dry fraction was about to tear him open. A shudder passed through him and he seized the bedsheet, whimpering.

With little experience, Adam’s hole was the tightest little one Travis had ever nailed. There he paused to bend down, pressing his forearms on the mattress for support. The beauty was trapped between his arms, weeping. Travis whispered in his ears, “It’s just the head. It hurts that much?” Adam nodded. “But my cock is much thicker. Should I tear your warm little hole?” Adam shook his head violently, sobbing _‘no… no…’_ with his cracked voice. “No? But the horny boy in the bathroom said _‘yes’_.” He pushed, much harder than he should have –

“AHHHHHH… AHHHHHHHHH…” The cock slammed deep into his narrow tunnel. His tight hole stretched and tore around the cock, thick, hard like heated steel. “It hurts… It hurts… ehhh…” Tears cascaded down Adam’s face onto the mattress. The thrust was getting brutal.

“It hurts, huh? It hurts?” Travis chuckled between his elated groans. Quickly he pulled the cock out until only the head was inside the tiny hole, then swiftly rammed back the deepest into the spasming tunnel again. “How about this, huh? Does it hurt?”

“Please stop. Stop… STOOOP…” The sensation was savage. He would never want that again.

The teenager’s plea only fueled up his desire to fuck the blonde the fastest, till those glorious hands pulled the bedsheet off the mattress, till that angelic voice turned husky, till the fluffiest hair soaked in sweat…

“This is how raw fuck feels. You feel my cock?” Underneath him squirming was the most gorgeous boy he had ever seen. In his screams there were fear and helplessness, also need, want, and lust to Travis’s ears. His precome dripped inside the tight passage, lubing up for more smooth strokes. The fuck might have gone too hard that Adam lost his grip, Travis thrust forward, the soaked fluffy head flew toward the headboard and his cock left the warm glove completely.

Not knowing what kind of severe punishment was waiting for him for his infraction of breaking the position, Adam panted in despair and panic. His stomach churned as he awaited his fate… What if Travis found out his temporary swoon was an act just to end cruel torment in his backside? Adam quickly stuck up his butt to cover up his disobedience. Travis plunged down to him and gave him a real one-second black out –

“Relax. It’s okay.” The young master whispered. It was not okay. Not only did Travis’s weight was squeezing the air out of Adam’s lungs, also the hairy arm snaked around his throat was suffocating him. If only he were the very caring Mr. M, the poor boy would be receiving the gentlest caress… Now the same spooky softened voice moaned _‘baby… baby_ ’ in his ear, the still hard-as-steel prick rubbed on his well-punished butt cheek.… Adam just wanted it to end. Thereat he felt Travis maneuvered above him.

Adam opened his eyes and saw Travis closing the bedside cabinet with a jar in his hands. He recognized the jar, the same one he saw in Hugo and Lola. Travis expertly popped the cover open with a thumb, placed it onto the bed and dug all of his fingers into the gel.

“This is the best friend to your sensitive baby skin.” Cold gel smeared stingingly over the boy’s anus, the boy jumped in his arm and clenched his fingers tightly with the cheeks. Travis could not help chuckling at the cuteness. “Aww… It’s okay.” With abundant lubricant he slipped two fingers into the tiny anus with ease, squeezing a long, soft whimper out of the boy’s lungs. He pulled out, as he pushed in again he turned his palm down.

The fingers wriggled inside the boy, digging deeper into his aching tunnel. In addition to the pain, there came an intense sweetness that made Adam’s gasped out loud. He could feel his pulse thudding on the arm around his neck. The fingers hooked and bumped into _that_ spot at times, though it seemed totally unintentional. Adam writhed, trying to direct the fingers to the right place but soon the hand withdrew.

Adam’s heart almost popped out as Travis abruptly grabbed his hips. Next, he was hoisted up on his knees. The master’s hands shifted across his body, manipulated him into an indecent position like a puppy.

Right away, the cockhead pushed in. Adam winced at first but the wincing soon turned a soft whimper as the shaft slipped in gently. A wild sensation filled his secret passage full and travelling upward to spin his head.

But Travis could have gone much farther, to where Mr. M could never reach. Why would the prick wander around the entrance? Adam turned to his right, looking over his shoulder. Curiosity drawn his gaze to his backside – Travis’s pelvis moving back and forth, half of the glistening shaft sank between his buttcheeks, withdrew, and sank back in again. Looking up and he knew Travis was gazing at the same view. Joy was evident on his bearded face watching the tiny anus expanded and contracted with his every fuck, while the boy was awaiting the invasion of the thickest part of the prick.

Momentarily Adam wanted to buck backward but too embarrassed to take his move. “Sir…” He moaned, giving Travis a look of displeasure as their eyes met.

“Give me your hand, baby.” As soon as Adam’s right arm raised, Travis grabbed his wrist and put it on his hip. “Wanna feel me fucking you?” Then the thrusts went significantly faster. Now both his hands were grabbing the boy’s forearm in a bruising grasp like pulling on the rein of on a wild horse, jerking the boy’s upper torso backward with his every thrust. “Fast enough? Want me fuck faster? Deeper? Rougher? Say it!”

“Deeper… sir… deeper…” Please, deep enough to press on the spot. He had never experienced anything better than that.

And so the cock came to life, drumming around his wall like an unruly bull, brushing against the right place occasionally. The teen’s stinging cock grew even stiffer in under the onslaught from the beastly young master.

Adam fell drunk with the pleasure. “Ahh… ahh… sir…” He groaned like sobbing while sobbed like whimpering, with the entrancing tone that had encouraged _the old man_ to keep up his good job. The fuck was getting ferocious, embedding the whole cock deep inside his hole.

Orgasm kept pooling in his cock as their balls rammed loudly together. The young boy could hold on no more. The flesh was on fire, burning his legs to spasm. He shook his arm off of Travis’s grip, began to touch his aching penis and he melted onto the mattress.

Understood the boy’s need from his weird squirming, Travis retreated from the little ass. He lay Adam down on his side, and himself lied behind him. Sliding his arms under the boy’s armpits, he snaked around the twitching beauty’s chest. “Baby?” He took the pale, soft hand away from the pink cock and stuffed the long fingers into his mouth, tonguing, coating each finger with thick saliva, then put the moistened hand back onto the boy’s groin. “Now pump your monster.”

Travis was rubbing against his back, his  
cock was still a pulsing hardness, making Adam anticipated how the master would continue in such a position. Then the cockhead probed around his anus. “Sir…” Adam was desperate for the answer. _“Raise your leg. Your ass’s clamping too tight.”_ He had definitely heard Travis’s instruction, but raise his leg? How?

The man behind buckled and the cock forced through his tight muscle ring from an unbelievable angle. Adam screamed, his back arched thrusting his ass backward for deeper penetration. His hand slipped back and forth over his swollen cock, faster and faster as the pounder was wracking his back.

“Sir… ahh… I…”As Adam let out his breathy moan, he felt like poisoned fog filling his lungs, his mouth, his eyes and his ears, choking him with a thick fume of ecstasy. He threw his head back and the man took the chance to bite on the crook of his neck. Travis slammed into him incredibly fast like a sewing machine punching its needle through the fabric. Adam bawled in rapture –

“Not yet baby.” Travis’s big hand held the base of his dripping cock tightly, stopping the steamy stream from coming gushing out. “Coming, huh? Say you wanna cum or I won’t let you.” Adam swung his hand back to pull on Travis’s head, shaking him desperately but it only caused Travis to revenge by tickling his nipple with his free hand. Though the fuck slowed down it was impossible to hold on anymore, his balls felt like bursting.

“I wanna cum…”

“Louder!”

“I WANNA CUM. I WANNA CUM. I WANNA CUM!”

The master quickly pulled out of his blonde doll’s raw hole and flipped him to his back to help him out. A hot spring of milk shot onto his chin and splashed on the boy’s sweaty stomach. Travis grinned smearing the cream over the pale chest, smoothing around the pink nipples. And now it was his turn.

The boy lay feeble, grabbing his jaw pressing his mouth open was totally effortless. With the other hand Travis rubbed on his cock till a full load of sperm spurted right into the boy’s mouth, and purposely he spilled some onto the handsome face.

Adam frowned and whimpered but got no strength to pretest when Travis pressed his mouth shut and commanded, “Swallow.”

***

These sinful nights were the trade with the Devils. Full of luxurious tastes and the richness of colors. Temptation. The men’s leer turned to the sharpest blades stabbing into his chest until he woke up screaming in a soaked empty bed. Though when he snapped his eyes open he understood the scream was only another dream because the man holding him was still fast asleep.

He had just let himself deprave. Would it be worth the rot? Rather than rebuilding him, this man sharing the same bed seemed more capable in destroying his humanity, leaving him even more shadows to combat against. Yet this room filled with his mom’s fragrance smelled wonderful, the brick wall had no cracks to let the rain and the sound in, the distraught teen went back to sweet slumberland shortly.

The next morning after cleaning up, the young master insisted on playing dress-up game with his blonde doll. The first time Adam realized Travis was actually an inch or two shorter than him, but was vigorous enough to throw him over his shoulder and carry him around.

“Okay.” Travis said with a satisfied look. He finished with a yellow bow tie, making the ordinary white shirt plus blank pants look appeared extraordinarily smart. Or maybe, it was the boy himself who brought the look to life. “Let’s have breakfast. There’s a hotel around the corner my friends said their breakfast delicious. I haven’t tried it yet. You know, I’m not usually waking up this early. Just for you.”

“Sir… May I go back to my room first?” Adam was simply not ready to announce their relationship yet. “I… want to wear my clothes… These pieces are too expensive… Please – ”

“Okay.” To Adam’s surprise, the young master under the sunlight was so much more accessible. “I’ll wait for you in the car.”

On Adam’s way to the hut, he kept turning back to see if Travis was following him until he came to the garden, where there was nowhere to hide on a plain of green, he could finally open his arms to enjoy the fresh breeze. “EDITH!” There she was, gran Dorothy’s best friend, talking with somebody inside the hut, did not seem to hear his calling.

Anyway, Adam missed everyone too much, he rushed toward the hut. “EDITH! GOOD MORNINNG!” He expected the granny to berate him for his absence, but instead there was an exaggerated uneasiness and discomfort on her face. Another granny came out from the hut wearing the same expression. Then, both of them faked jollity and dashed to welcome the boy, patting his face and tidying his hair, and grabbing his arms turning him away from the door.

“What’s going on?” Adam gave a quizzical look. The grannies’ lack of response made it even more doubtful. “Gran is still mad at me? She doesn’t wanna see me?”

“Adam…” Edith muttered, her voice obviously husky as though she had a sore throat. “Sean came last night –”

“I know. I saw him.” Adam did not quite get the widened eyes on the grannies at the moment. “I mean… from far away. I wanna talk to him. Is he still there?”

“NO –”

Adam turned to the back –

“No! Adam don’t look! Don’t look!”

All four hands of the grannies’ were then seizing his face and neck, trying to turn his face back to the other side. But none of them managed to pull the boy back from staring at the broken wooden door, from where a human-like object wrapped in blanket had just been carried out.

“Who is that?.... WHO IS THAT?” Adam threw the two grannies off, set off a run toward the hut.

~ End of Chapter 4 ~


	5. Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A droplet of water fell an inch before his feet… He looked up to the ceiling… Was it raining outside? But there was no crack at all, the paint was yellowish but the surface was perfectly smooth…
> 
> Another droplet hit on his collar bone. He touched it, it was warm… like fresh tears… Dropping the broom, he ran his fingers over his own cheeks and finally found those droplets were from his eyes, and they were still streaming down coating his hands.
> 
> He did not realize his heartache till now… Now it started to strike him, hard and ruthlessly… till his legs turned limp… then his hands desperately looking for support. With his both hands pressing on the table, he supported his way to a chair where he could fell onto. His mind suddenly flushed with the rage that he did not expect. Why could not this torture pass already? Why should he care about the love that had never truly belonged to him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait again. A lot has been happening to me in real life, work and health problems. When I was in the hospital I was thinking it would be my biggest regret if I couldn't finish this story :p But of course it turned out only trivial problem triggered by stress. 
> 
> As always, although it took longer, I promise it won't disappoint you.  
> Thank you for sticking with me here even though I have let you wait time after time <3  
> You know I won't be leaving <3
> 
> Your kudos and comments are highly appreciated.  
> xoxo

“STOP! STOP!” Pushing the two old women aside, Adam sprinted towards the group of workers carrying a human-like object wrapped in a thin blanket. Right in the very front of them, he stopped. The workers exchanged looks with the grannies before laying the object down to the ground and “ _Say goodbye and we must drive her home in a minute,_ ” they said.

He knelt down next to _it_. He knew it… he could tell it was her from afar... But he could not stop convincing himself that it might be someone else lying in the cover. A worker bent down beside him, helping to uncover body’s face. Adam fell silent, holding his breath until Dorothy’s kind old face revealed before him. Her eyes were closed, as peaceful as though she was sleeping…

“Gran, I’m here.” Adam reached out, tying her hair into a side braid and finished it with the ribbon Edith just took out from her pocket.

“ _That’s beautiful_ ,” Adam heard Edith say, and he felt her trying to pull him up, but he did not want to.

He cupped Dorothy’s face, cold and stiff. “Gran, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” His words repeated and repeated. Compared to the aches and horror he had been through the past few hours, what was even more real and inescapable was to see the kindest old lady he had, or would ever meet lying here, no longer feeling anything. He could not absorb the truth that never again she would speak to him, nor would she ever laugh at his silly jokes.

Suddenly someone grabbed his arms and raised him from the ground. His body swayed, his head was spinning. “ _Adam, let her go_ ,” it was Travis’s voice at his ear, blurrily. When his legs could finally support his weight, he shoved the young master away and blocked the workers’ way again.

“The blanket is too thin. She’s cold.” He snapped then hurtled back to the hut, looking for something. But then he realized she had packed and the suitcase was left beside his bed, he snapped it open, and there it was – the first coat he sewed her, which cost him a whole season of begging Nathan for just enough yards of wool for it. Adam felt a sudden sweetness rushing to his face: she had packed the coat, she liked it.

Holding the coat one last time, Adam ran back to his gran. “This will keep her warm.” As he pulled the blanket away, the grannies and the workers gasped and widened their eyes which confused him for a moment… No wonder the worker had only revealed her face to him… there was a dark red mark around her neck…

Arms snaked around him from the back, holding him as he watched the workers threw the coat over Dorothy sloppily. Then, half dragging, Travis carried him after the workers; and they stopped at the backdoor, watching Dorothy’s body placed into a small cart.

“Say goodbye.” Travis said. He held the boy’s forearm, raised it a waved it. “Goodbye, grandma. I’ll be fine.” He said, imitating the boy’s sweet voice.

“Gran, go home! Don’t worry about me. I’ll be good! Graaaaaaaan! Goodbye!” Adam yelled. The cart pass through the narrow alley. The workers pulled the mules and they turned onto the road, the saddened crowd started to weep behind him, except Travis.

Letting go of the feeble arm, Travis slapped his hand back onto Adam’s chest, “Well done, baby.” His lips pecked onto the softest cheek, “You didn’t cry–”

_BAAAAAANG!_

Adam was released from the young master’s arms after a loud voice of metal hitting on something concrete. He turned to the back, seeing Travis rubbing the back of his head and Edith with a frying pan in her hands.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” Travis howled at the granny.

“Don’t take advantage on our boy!”

“Take advantage? It was me who kept him so calm. Look at him –” Travis turned to grab Adam’s hand and another granny came out from nowhere stroke the horny man’s head again with a larger pan. “DAMN IT! The pan’s so fucking oily!”

“Let go of him, you son of a bitch!”

“GET LOST!” Another granny came with a metal scoop, bent down to shovel Rickey the guard dog’s excrement then rushed towards the man –

“SHIT! HOLY SHIT!” Travis backed a few steps before turning and hitting himself onto the wall, then disappeared from the alley. Adam was stunned, not by Travis’s rage but by what the old ladies could do.

“Where have you been?” Edith asked, her voice more like questioning than caring.

“I… um… wandered around last night… I fainted somewhere in the slum… He found me…”

She grabbed the boy by the shoulders, with the extraordinary strength of an old skinny woman, and shook him hard. “Look at me!” She said, her fingers digging into the boy’s flesh and made his seemingly innocent gaze shift onto her directly. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I didn’t! You can ask Rickey! Um…” Ask a dog? He stopped mid-sentence, but still he was very keen for explanation to protest. “He was with Rickey when he found me. Then I woke up it’s already… morning…”

Edith gripped him tighter, and then suddenly let him go. “I see… I see…” She kept nodding. “You’re a grownup now. We can’t tell you what to do. But still I think it’s a very poor way to repay Dorothy’s love and caring to you.”

“Do I really look like her youngest grandson? He died a month before I came, didn’t he?”

“What?”

“I just wonder if… if her love had ever belonged to _me_.”

Edith fell quiet, staring at him in disbelief. “Was it why you’re so calm waving the last goodbye?...” Her lips trembling, leaving Adam felt worse because of his reckless questions. “I’m sure you two look nothing alike… If Dorothy’s grandchildren had ever had a beautiful face like yours, Sean would have sold his own ass, Dorothy wouldn’t have to owe you anything.”

The way the grannies turned their backs and walked away silently was savage. Adam’s heart plummeted. The pain of losing everyone, and everything, was definitely too immense to express with words, and tears.

***

Adam paralyzed his mind with work. He promptly finished his own jobs and helped the teachers with their cutting and basting. The old tailors watched the boy nervously the whole day, not daring to talk about his tragic loss.

Tthe shop’s closing time drew near, Adam had no clear idea how he had survived the day… All he knew was that it was like a year in hell. His head was still in pain and pounding. His world had changed overnight. Why had nobody ever instructed him how to do? Looking back, since the very day he had sent his mother away he had chosen to face everything _alone_.

“Son, go home. We’re closing.” Jerome patted on Adam’s shoulder, drawing him back from his deep thinking. The boy suddenly stood up and headed straight to the broomstick and the mob at the corner of the room.

“Let the ladies do it tomorrow. It’s late.”

“No,” Adam insisted, he did not turn to the teacher, “It’s too dirty.” With that he started to sweep the floor. Dorothy would have cleaned up every workroom after delivering the lunchboxes, without her for a day, the room was extremely dirty beyond his tolerance.

“Go home. Take some rest!” Jerome tried to wrench the mob out of the boy’s tight grip, but he failed and it only agitated the boy.

“I haven’t a home! Don’t you understand?” Adam howled. Then after taking a deep breath, he stretched the corners of his lips outwards. “Good evening, sir.” And he went on cleaning.

“Sleep tight tonight. You’re going to the cloth merchant tomorrow. Don’t forget it.” Nothing more left to say, the old tailor left.

Adam swept and swept, gathering the dirt to the center of the room. Now he had the dustpan ready, he swept, but the dust stuck on the floor. He bent down more, brushing over it few more times, only to see he had dragged thin tracks of dirt on the tile. He frowned, but there he dragged tracks after tracks all over the tiles.

“What? WHAT?” He bawled, thrusting the broom hard at the sticky dirt with irritation, “DAMN IT… DAMN IT! GO AWAY!” –

A droplet of water fell an inch before his feet… He looked up to the ceiling… Was it raining outside? But there was no crack at all, the paint was yellowish but the surface was perfectly smooth…

Another droplet hit on his collar bone. He touched it, it was warm… like fresh tears… Dropping the broom, he ran his fingers over his own cheeks and finally found those droplets were from his eyes, and they were still streaming down coating his hands.

He did not realize his heartache till now… Now it started to strike him, hard and ruthlessly… till his legs turned limp… then his hands desperately looking for support. With his both hands pressing on the table, he supported his way to a chair where he could fell onto. His mind suddenly flushed with the rage that he did not expect. Why could not this torture pass already? Why should he care about the love that had never truly belonged to him? He was dying to know how that happened… How Dorothy died. His bed was a mess that morning: the pillow, blanket on the floor, bedsheet lay torn on the wooden slat. Sean must have searched for the money.

“ARGHHHHHHHHHHH” Roaring loudly he banged his fists on the table. _BOOM. BOOM. BOOM_ … He beat on the hard, cold surface, till his flesh was stinging with pain. _BOOM. BOOM. BOOM_ … A spool of brown thread with a needle sticking on it rolled its way to the edge of the table. Adam instinctively thrust his right hand out to grab it, and the needle punctured his palm.

He looked at his shaky hands, the used-to-be-white flesh fury red bouncing on his bone. On his palm around where the needle pierced through flushed scarlet. He took the needle out. It did not take long for the blood to ooze out and form a shallow pool. The red spread along the lines and dried mid-way. If it was not the striking physical pain, it must be the fascinating color that distracted him from hysteria.

 _Blood, ink, pins… Puncturing the skin…_ Adam suddenly recalled what the customer said about tattoos. Gingerly, he placed the needle back onto his right palm… Wait, perhaps the wrist would hurt less… There he heard a voice in his head, _‘Be brave, Adam. Be brave.’_ Once the stinging feeling on his palm faded, the heartache would make its return. Just pierce through the flesh and peace would fill his heart again.

“But I’m so scared… I’m scared…” He sobbed to himself, but ‘ _STAB_ ’ the voice compelled –

“UGHHHH…” It hurt, he lost his vision for a second. The needle sank too deep. Hot, red fluid gushed out way before he had his strength back to take the metal out.

He immediately thrust the needle back onto the spool, putting it to its original place, pretending nothing had happened. While he was tending himself with the first aid kit, he believed that he would never do that again.

***

And so Adam had spent the most depressing night in the white hut. No dinner was reserved that he had to sneak into the kitchen for food. His bed was empty so he had to pillow on a folded coat. He could totally foresee the serious neck pain he was having right now.

The grannies were deadly silent. But their quiescence did not make them absent from the boy’s sight. Instead, the way they watched him strangely made him want to retreat from their world. In the old days he had played the role of a good grandson, who was treasured by everyone in the big family. But the relationship that had run for years did not take kindly to him, as if he had never been one of them.

In despair of repairing anything, Adam stuffed his cheeks with the remaining bread and tomatoes from the night before and dashed back into the bedroom.

He pulled out the chest under his bed, searching through it for the best outfit which would fit the occasion. Well, unless the rich turned their pearl collars inward and tucked their jewels under their sleeves, there was no way could Adam not draw the attention with his valueless clothes. Wait… There the diamond tiepin was, pinned still on his favourite white shirt with contrast black sleeves. And, Sauli liked the shirt too… Adam quickly threw the shirt on himself and matched it with the same black bowtie he had when he met the bossy little boy.

By the time he finished changing, the morning was all brightened up. He stood by his bed sighing at the place where used to offer real comfort, it would no longer be the same. He studied the wooden plank for a moment and was shocked by the scene – the crime showed itself and became vivid under the broad daylight. Dirt on where the pillow was supposed to be, Dorothy must have taken back the envelope from the fireplace and hidden it under the pillow beneath the sheet. Sean had searched for the money and thus everything was pulled off the bed. But, why was Dorothy not sleeping in her room? –

 _BANG BANG BANG_. Someone fisted on the door and yelped, “We’re changing. Are you done yet?”

Whatever! Dorothy, Sean, and whoever, he could not care less. Everything that had happened in the hut had been taken to an unknown place, buried alongside the old lady’s body.

***

There was no time for the teen to tend the bruises in his soul, he had to set off to the front door. Though he was still a dozen yards away from the gate, the blue vehicle was already seeking the attention from his eyes.

When he was little, Roland had rented cars for their family picnics. To baby Adam’s eyes, cars were the enchanted metal carts that could move without horses; with a noisy box called ‘motor’ in the front, they could go a long, long way in a short nap. Of course these years he had witnessed the evolution of vehicles but, there was no other car like the one he was seeing: sky blue paint on the body yellow on the wheels, bringing a crazy contrast with the black leather seats and tires, no one could pretend not to see it when it flash through the road. Who else would this showy car’s master be except Travis Ricci?

As soon as Adam came close, the driver jumped off opened the convertible roof so the backseats were in shade. He opened the door and helped Adam onto the car. That made the teen flushed as he was not used to be served. The driver chuckled, “Good to see your face so red. I thought you were dead the other night. You were pale like a dead fish.”

Now Adam remembered his dream of Roland that night. The rotten smell of liquor still left a light mark on the leather couch. It had not been his dad’s laps but Travis’s he had lied on, and it happened on this car. “Thank you, sir, for the ride.”

“No wonder they call you a sweet boy.” The driver turned to the boy in the backseat. As the boy smiled back, he continued, “How do you think about this car?”

“It’s nice. Very luxurious and special–”

“Isn’t it? It’s Lion-Peugeot VC2, shipped here from France! All the way cross the great ocean!”

The excited driver went on explaining how he painted it and how he installed a windshield onto it. Adam did not feel bad being interrupted; instead, he would have run out of nice words if the driver did cut him at the right time. Nodding and wow-ing constantly, the kindhearted boy was always a good listener.

Around half an hour later, they finally rode out of the gate. The shade, the morning breeze and the leather couch were too cozy for the boy to stay awake. With Nathan and the driver’s company, Adam dozed off on the slightly rocky journey next to Travis.

Abruptly the car pulled off and Adam thrust forward. Travis’s hand came fast enough to stop his nose from hitting on the front seat. Blearily Adam saw they turned into the mighty flank of a castle-like house. What would the cloth merchant’s family do in such an enormous place? For a ‘home’, there seemed too spacious and empty.

Just as Nathan got off, he frowned at the teen and scolded, “What’s wrong with your shirt?”

“Yes?” So confused, Adam looked down – his shirt was pulled out of his pants with all the buttons undone, his bowtie loosened hanging around his neck – and he shot a glance at the man beside him. Travis the pranker shrugged and jumped off to join his dad, leaving the victim alone on the car fixing his clothes. The humiliated teen watched the masters walking farther and farther, eventually he leaped off running after them while knotting his bowtie.

***

The trade exhibition hall was a small empire of rainbow dyed fabrics. Rolls of wool, cotton, silk, velvet, fur, lace, whatever textiles he could or could barely name piled up as small mountains. To his eyes suddenly fed by colorful fabrics, the rich ladies’ dresses appeared dreary.

“Adam, take this.” Nathan said. Of course Adam took the paper and pen from the master immediately. “See there’s a number pinned on each fabric?” The boy gave a few firm nods, staring at the master attentively, looking forward to the next instruction. Nathan continued, “Walk around, mark the number of the ones you like, show me and I’ll decide –”

Nathan could not go on seeing the teen suddenly wore a silly, toothy and triumphant smile. He just gestured the boy to go. As he did so, he pulled Travis to the other side of the hall.

“Thank you, sir!” He could pick his favourite cloths! Adam was thrilled. He felt an immense gratitude to the master.

He paced around the hall, half-bouncing, to check out the amazing fabrics around. Unfortunately, it was too crowded. Although he was tall enough to peek over others’ heads, he was unable to push through. His unintentional pouts had obviously got him shoved further away by the gentlemen. _‘Go home, kid,’_ some said. At last he was wandering around the hall searching for the less popular cloths.

To the end of the room, he spotted a few rolls of cloths standing no less lonely then he was. Wool in camel, black and midnight blue, and velvet… what was that deep red? It was slightly more purple than his favourite burgundy color. The other three might be too common to get noticed but how about the red one? Beautiful floral pattern, exotic color, the closer he got, the more fascinating it looked.

Finally he could touch on the fabric… So, it was silk velvet, the most expensive one of the kind. It was produced by two layers of threads, one higher than the other. With thicknesses varied, it not only created the flowers-and-leaves patterns, it also gave an illusion of fur.

Adam was also curious about its three woolly friends standing beside. As soon as he looked at the wool, he was stunned by their rich dye. Carefully he ran his hands over it. They felt softer, lighter and smoother than any wool he had ever seen. He had once seen a few yards of cashmere on Roland’s desk, but these were definitely more luxurious, like blend of silk and the finest fleece.

During his time with the probably most expensive fabrics, he knew (from the corner of his eyes) someone had been watching him for a while. He turned – it was a man, may be, few years older than him, tall and skinny with very short black hair. “Good afternoon, sir.” Adam nodded.

Rather than greeting back, the man’s sleepy eyes stuck still to the boy’s hands and returned a stern _“What can I help you?”_ As though he was the mean shopkeeper in a candy shop who would accuse every child for shoplifting.

Feeling unwelcomed, Adam cleared his throat and asked, “This deep red color – ”

“Oxblood color it’s called.” The man’s tone was still sluggish. His unfriendly gaze made Adam clutch his hands with embarrassment. “Pile-on-pile velvet from Italy. Vicuna, _the Fabric of the Gods_ from Argentina. Have I answered all the questions you’ve got?”

“Yes, you did…”

With that the man began to take the number cards off the cloths. Surprised by the offence, Adam instantaneously snapped the card off the nearest camel vicuna. And now for the first time the man looked directly at him. His eyes, the windows to the soul, were wide open, but it was only a great pit of emptiness inside. Perhaps, the life as a servant to the cloth merchant was no less tough than his, Adam thought. Thus, Adam suppressed the rising anger and with his usual gentle voice, he requested the numbers of the cloths.

“They are reserved.” The man’s voice was so slack that it contained great disrespect. “But not for the family you serve.” After that he put out his hand, gesturing Adam to give back the card. So rude. Adam slapped the card onto the man’s palm and turned away.

To Adam’s shock, a big, cold hand grabbed his wrist and he was spun around. At first he thought the man was asking for an apology, but the next second he was dragged forward. He was forced to run after the man toward a door. “Let go! Let go!” Adam gathered all his strength trying to release his wrist but the man only seized him tighter. It was puzzling until they passed through the door into the bathroom, the man tossed him to the sink.

There Adam saw it, black ink stained on his right palm. He tried to rub it away but turned out both his hands were inky. He could feel the man’s stare burning beside him. “Whatever your intention was, I don’t think I deserve this insult.”

The weird man gave no indication that he heard it. Wetting the soap he foamed it up, and with his both hands he took hold of the boy’s right wrist. Startled Adam jerked backward instinctively but the man pressed his thumbs directly at the vein. Numbness shot from his pulse to the tip of his fingers. Adam tried to push the man away. “I can do that on my own…” He mumbled but the thumbs only dug deeper, he watched his fingers curled up as the blood flow got cut. The fear of losing his hand compelled him to stop breaking free from the grip.

Slowly the man shifted to the boy’s palm. This hand was so different: slim and slender, but with flesh covering the bones at the same time. Carefully he rubbed his thumbs around the ink stain till it was loosened from the surface… The skin was too tender like all his gentleness could never be enough. Moving downward he spread the teen’s long fingers loosely, with his thumbs feeling the cushion between each joint, there were both softness and resilience to the youthful flesh. After greeting with every fingertip, he turned it over and went on studying the back of the hand, pale and freckly, with the same sort of bony-fleshy beauty.

The way the man was linking up the freckles with his thumbs totally crept Adam out. Adam caught a quick glimpse of his face: his mouth opened, inhaling deep, making a strange expression as if he was in pain. Adam lowered his eyes and saw the man was rocking slightly, and below his belly _something_ was going wrong… Meanwhile, behind the door he heard some footfalls and the man outside began to kick the door open. Adam took his chance to pull his hand back when the door burst open.

“Hey, Wade. Having fun with my boy?”

Of course it was Travis, Adam could tell it was him by his footsteps. Wade’s body shook a little, his eyes were definitely not looking at anyone, then he made his way out without a word.

“You had fun?” Travis’s voice had some nauseous factors that Adam had to turn his face away. The young master was not pleased by his action, slamming the door close he caught the boy by the hair and tossed him to the wall. “Seems like I’ve just lost you a good fuck. You mad, SLUT?”

Adam pulled up straight. As he opened his mouth he just blurted out, “If you don’t mind, I wish you will skip the S-word. That’s much uncivilized.”

Travis did a breathy laugh. “Then how about ‘whore’? It fits you perfectly.” Seeing the boy stood still, he went on, “Ah, it means someone who lay down for money. Or in your case, for a diamond tiepin.”

 _The tiepin? What?_ Adam slammed a hand onto his collar where the pin was supposed to be. Such an indirect confession made the young master purple with rage. Grinding his teeth, he muttered from the back of his throat, “I bet you felt like Cinderella with these little diamonds pinned on your cheap clothes collected them from the garbage.”

“It – It wasn’t what you’re thinking!” Adam paused, searching for the best explanation as he knew Travis was listening. “It was just a gift. Mr. Koskinen gave me that…”

“Koskinen? Why didn’t you tell me anything about him?” Travis held the boy’s chin. Someone was trying to blink away his guilt. Too obvious. “You cheated on me.”

“NO! No… He was… pretty…” Adam rolled his eyes down, lest Travis would see through the lies he was going to tell. “We did the measuring. He held me… and… and I hugged him back… We kissed on the couch.”

At first he stammered, yet the more he was doing, the smoother the words were coming out. “He wanted a swallow tail suit for his birthday party. I promised to finish it in three days. Then few hours later I bumped into you. You know what you did to me! What did you expect me to say?” Putting his hands into his pockets, Travis pursed his lips and just let the silence grow.

The young master was convinced. Momentarily even Adam himself was fooled by the story he had just created.  “Now he’s gone. I just want to keep his present. Give it back to me, please.” He looked up at Travis and this time it was the young master’s eyes that wavered. “Please, sir! It’s only a tiepin!”

As Adam expected, Travis did not return it. He turned away. Before getting through the door, he turned back gesturing the boy to follow but Adam went back to the sink. Travis could have said something, however, he did not.

The door closed. The teen was alone again. _Sauli and Mr. M_ , he had fashioned them into one fictional character, as if none of them had ever been real. Lying through his teeth time after time, he could now blame no one for turning him into a completely shameless habitual liar. Though he still regarded Travis as the primary culprit, sure he himself was innocent no longer.

Imagining Sauli and Mr. M coming together, throwing stones at him till his streaming blood was enough to wash away his sins, till he could no longer tell his flesh from bones… Adam did further damage to himself by the violence of the image.

***

At the door of the bathroom, Adam looked at the teeming hall and felt a sudden vertigo. The crowdedness abruptly brought him a panic attack which addled his brain.

He set foot back into the trade exhibition but retreated to the side, away from the river of finely dressed folks. _That he felt like Cinderella…_ Travis might be right. Now even he was in his favourite shirt, his inferior status as a house slave still explained itself embarrassingly. He stood rigid, not even dare to step out of the tile he had been standing until Nathan came tugging at his arm.

“What has he done to you again?” Nathan tapped on the boy’s shoulder, “Chin up. No one looks for a tailor in low spirits. Stand up straight and smile.” After all these years of training, the boy was so easily manipulated like a human puppet: he pulled up, displaying his teeth to the fullest extent awkwardly.

Besides browsing through the cloths, Nathan even made it Adam’s business of the day to greet every lady who had eye-contact with him intentionally or not. “If you do well, I’ll take you to the feast tonight. If not, you’re having bread and jam in your room.” Seeing the teen clenching his fists showing a hint of social fright, Nathan threw him a bone, “Are there any good ones you wanna order?” and the bone worked like magic. Adam looked at him directly and the connection was back.

Though it was predictable that Adam had the ability to pick the best ones out of the vast ocean of fabrics, Nathan faked an astonished smile on his face. “I have trust in your great eyes. I knew you’d never prove me wrong.”

“Would you order them?” Adam’s eyes sparkled with passion.

“Sure I want to, but they’re reserved to a sole tailor year after year. Anyway, I’ll leave it to Travis this time. He’s usually good for nothing but sometimes his wit may be more helpful than we can expect.” Nathan broke their conversation a guest approached. Two ladies, mother and daughter from their resemblance. The master elbowed the boy conspiratorially, so Adam bowed.

Nathan first placed his compliments to the mother, and they went on praising and flattering each other as if they had truly admired each other for ages. While wondering how the adults could carry on such a shallow conversation, the young ones kept their heads lowered, studying their own feet.

“Madam, by the way, I think I haven’t formally introduced this young talent beside me.” Nathan said. Feeling the master’s slap on his back, Adam raised his head and looked at the mother. The corners of her lips turned up and the crow’s-feet around her eyes crinkled. In her smile there was a heavy control. “This is Adam, our up-and-coming tailor.”

“Oh, I thought he was Travis.” She squeezed out a small giggle, “Nice to meet you, Adam.”

“I wish Travis was as behaved as him. I don’t even know where he is right now.” Nathan said and both adults broke into laughter.

While Adam was unable to tell if she was genuinely happy about meeting him, he saw the young lady’s coy eyes sticking on him. As Adam bowed at her, she bent her knees slightly and returned a sweet smile. There she put out her hand, her eyes were radiant and open to their fullest. But what should he do? Adam stilled, his face as tense as the hers.

“Nice to meet you… My name is… Julia…” Her brows were up high, she could not help admiring the handsomeness of the boy before her.

Both teens’ faces burnt with nerve. Adam darted a glance around, he had never been instructed in a proper handshake, so he did as what he observed just now. He took the girl’s hand, bent over and pecked his lips on her hand slightly. Adam felt a shudder passed through her before she pulled her hand back, clutching them on her chest. She kept rubbing on the back of her hand where his lips had landed on.

The mom turned and shot the fastest stare to the daughter. “Julia.” Her voice was a sudden growl. The next second, she turned back and with the same graceful tight-lip smile she said, “Excuse us.”

What had he just done? Adam watched the mom caught the girl by the arm and sidled away. He might have got the girl in trouble, he thought. Beside him came Nathan’s snicker.

“Look at their eyes. They’re gonna eat you alive.” Nathan whispered, his eyes still smiling at the ladies as they turned back.

“Sir?” That coarse comment confused him. Hadn’t they just had a friendly talk?

Making sure the ladies had disappeared into the crowd, Nathan turned to him and added, “Rumor has it her husband is impotent. And the daughter, she’s sharing the men after her mother. Don’t even stay with them alone. Their family is a sinking ship. They ain’t worth your time.”

Adam nodded, pretending he had understood something. In fact he wondered if he would have to do if the ladies were on a ‘fine ship’.

The apprentice followed the master around to socialize till the afternoon fade into evening. All in all it was the most nerve-racking job Adam had ever done. He definitely had an eye-opener into the upper society – everyone, including Nathan could shield their current emotion in a blink, as simple as putting on a mask.

After wearing his signature toothy smile for an afternoon, at last the master was signing the order slip. He could now relax his face. As he did, a flaming sore spread through his cheeks. Giving his cheeks some good rubs he listened to Nathan’s compliment on his excellent performance. Although he was not quite sure what he had done was praiseworthy, he was elated to be eligible for the feast.

And yet, the prize for his hard work entirely fell short of his expectation: Nathan chose the table in the center of the dining room. Though less than half of the guests would stay overnight, the room was still packed enough to get on his nerve. Never mind, he supposed, if only that was the best location to fetch the food most efficiently; if only he would not be disturbed from his plate…

Herb roasted lamb chops, baked chicken breast with vegetables and endless supply of caramel coated custard brought him the ultimate serenity. But the momentary peace ended when he felt Nathan’s hand on his back, again. Unwillingly, he looked up from his plate. Not merely was he commanded to meet and fraternize with the future customers, but he also spotted Travis staggering to their way; it was pretty sure that in his hand was not his first bottle of wine.

Alongside Travis was a lady. Adam noticed her as soon as she showed up. Now they were within ten yards from each other. Her blonde hair sleek and shiny, big wavy locks flew at the back of her head. She was wearing a classic pastel blue corseted gown, the skirt made of layers of flowy sheer fabrics, so angelic that it was impossible to avoid her sight. Her eyes stayed deadlocked on his, making him stir nervously in his seat, his cheeks overspread with the deepest red. Shyly, Adam lowered his eyes on her approach, receiving her unshaking gaze with the embarrassment.

“Good evening, Mrs. Morrison –” Nathan rose from his seat to greet the lady and he hauled the boy up at the same time. Adam greeted after the master and followed with a slight bow. They stood a little too close Adam could smell her rosy fragrance. Too scared to lift his eyes to her face, he found himself immovable. While the masters were expressing his admiration to her family and her own achievement, Adam did not hear a word. Though the lady had the perfect civility, he was completely ashamed by the thoughts of having to be _with_ her any time soon.

The conversation came to a timely end as the music started to play, when Nathan invited Mrs. Morrison to dance with his youngest apprentice. Adam only answered with a nod and soon he was walking with the lady, arm in arm, to the dance floor.

“I didn’t know you’re so quiet.” She said after placing her hand on his shoulder. “Hold my waist with your left hand, and hold my hand with your right hand.” Patiently she taught Adam the posture to begin a dance. “Stand straight.” Just as she slipped her hand over his back, the boy blurted.

“Madam! I’m… I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” She said. Stealing a sly look at the boy, who looked startled and confused, she asked, “Why?” At such time the silence was very awkward. The boy wanted to talk but his lips slammed shut again after a glimpse of the master to the other side of the dance floor. After a short pause, she felt the boy had mistaken something entirely. She broke the contact with the boy and laughed quietly. “Look, I’m old enough to be your mother, Mr. tailor.”

Wait… That familiar ‘ _Mr. tailor_ ’… Adam collected himself and looked into her eyes. Those pupils, the foreign color as blue as the deepest ocean –

“I’m Katariina Koskinen. Sauli Koskinen is my nephew.” She laughed. Speechlessly, Adam replied with a long exhale of relief. “The ladies must have given you a rough day,” she giggled.

How come had he not recognized her accent? For Adam it was now a problem to speak well. Tilting his head a little down, pinching his eyebrows he looked upward at the lady. He widened his eyes at her, begging for her pardon.

Smilingly, Katariina directed the teen’s attention to the music, which had just changed to another one. “It should be a boy’s question, but, shall we dance?”

Adam followed her instructions. Carefully, he avoid others’ eyes, especially those of Nathan’s and Travis’s, and the next moment, Katariina had seized his hands, placing one around her waist and holding the other tightly in hers.

“Listen to the beat. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. When I move forward,” she said, stepped her right foot forward and immediately praised, “Yes, good. You step backward.”

They started in the middle of the music. While Adam, who was counting the beat under his breath, concentrated wholly on not to trod on her feet (but still did it at times), Katariina seemed to be rejoiced.

Her eyes so blue like the great ocean, so much like Sauli’s. And so did her hair that was golden blonde like the color of sunflowers had the family resemblance with the bossy Nordic boy. Unknowingly, he was smiling with his eyes creased. He gradually forgot to count as he had got used to the music, instead he was humming along the melody while moving across the floor like water. His first dance ever was not as bad as he expected, Adam thought. Stretching his arm as Katariina steered, he watched her slowly revolved away – “Pull me back,” she instructed – then with the sleekest turn, she was back in Adam’s arms, lying on Adam’s chest.

The music stopped playing. Applause and cheering filled the dining room.

“Was it fun?” Katariina touched the boy’s chin lightly. Adam caught the sight of some ladies who had their arms crossed. Those ladies were staring at them with narrowed eyes, looking sullen. But who cared that bit of jealousy when the Nordic fairy before him was so fine?

“Yes, Sauli – ” _Hey, NO._ He quickly recollected himself, “Sauli’s… AUNT – Madam.” Then he covered his mistake with a silly but bright grin.

“You have the voice the songbirds envy.” She added when they paced crossed the dance floor, heading back to the table. “Now I know why Sauli likes you.” Pricking up his ears, Adam longed to hear more. “You are a complete reverse of him. You have those virtues he lacks. He admires you.”

“Thank you, madam. Mr. Koskinen is very nice too.” Afterward, Adam listened, wondering how Sauli really felt about him, and he was too impatient for the whole story.

“That’s so nice of you to say that. You may have realized he has a little quick temper. As the only son of a noble family, he gets whatever he wants. He simply doesn’t care, I mean, he doesn’t know how to care the people around him. _But_ , he is indeed a very good boy. He deserves more friends. And I believe you can be a good mentor for him, on how to be more _likable_ , and approachable.”

On reaching the table, Adam pulled the chair out for the lady, helping her get seated. _What else would she tell about Sauli?_ Adam was almost staring at her.

“Except when he expressed his hatred on his tutors, I’ve never seen him talking about anyone for so long. His words were all about ‘Adam’, ‘Mr. tailor’, ‘fluffy head’, and your shirt! _‘The body is white and the sleeves are black.’_ ” Adam broke into hearty laughter. How rejoice to know Sauli’s language! She even imitated his tone. “Now I finally see the shirt he likes. I wish you can make one for him.” With that she turned to Nathan, asking for the master’s permission with absolute authority before looking back to the boy and confirmed he had just got his first paid job.

Tears of gratitude formed in Adam’s eyes, “Thank you so much, madam! That would be my great-great-great-greatest honor!” What would be more valuable than dedicating his first job to the one he adored?

The servant approached, Katariina only managed a few brief lines: “By the way, Sauli’s telegraphed me saying he has sent a letter to you. I’ll pass it to you once it arrives.”

Tapping the boy’s shoulder, she took her leave. Adam stood and bowed with the most sincere gratefulness. After standing a few moments, he was eventually awakened by the calling from the devil.

“Ah, the little fairy has sent his ambassador to our poor Cinderella.”

Adam said nothing. He only wanted to sit down and focus on the dessert but then Travis’s hand slammed loudly on his chest. He was nearly lifted up as Travis pulled on his shirt violently.

“Fairytales are fairytales for a reason. They will never be true. The truth is, the untamed Cinderella will get the collar and leash she deserves. The more she’s struggling, the harder she’s getting fucked in the dirty cellar.”

“Travis.” Nathan called his son in a stern, low voice, and yet his hands were holding Adam as though he would be the one to attack.

“The shirt _he_ likes, huh?”

“Travis!” –

There was no way to stop the young master to further humiliate the servant boy. Picking up the glass of wine he tossed it at Adam’s neck and immediately the white was dyed a dark pink.

So was Adam’s face and eyes showed a fiery redness. “YOU’RE INSANE!” For a moment he wanted to throw punches at the sickening man, however, his consciousness told him never should he push the old master away.

“Forgive him. He’s drunk.” Nathan held the crying boy tight in place then moved him towards the door, to the housekeeper. The boy was promised a single room with a private bathroom. Nathan did not let go of the teen until he made sure there was no extra key to the room. “It’s okay now. Go to your room. Have a wash then sleep tight.”

Two house servants appeared from nowhere had already claimed Adam’s baggage. The two servants took hold of the boy’s arms and pulled him out of Nathan’s arms. After some pulling, dragging and lifting, Adam almost got thrown into the guestroom. To Adam’s terror, they then started to undress him.

“Wait! WAIT!” It was effortless to struggle off their grips as they let go right after his yelp. “What are you doing?”

“Serve you to bath, sir.” The servant answered, “We’ll wash your clothes for you, sir.”

“But – ” No _but_ was allowed, the two men were too enthusiastic about their job, Adam was soon stripped till his underpants. “I will wash this myself!”

“Alright, sir. Bathrobe’s in the bathroom. Have a good night sleep.”  

They left… Adam promptly went to test the door lock. It was a little push-lock, way too weak for a kick. And yet the door itself was so solid and firm that it was impossible to break in without waking everyone in the house. Making sure the knob was pushed down, he went for a bath.

***

The bathroom misted with a soothing rosy scent. The very proactive helpers had once again surprised him. When he was defending his clothes, someone had already prepared a tub of hot water with rose petals ready for the guest. Adam was delighted soaking in the most luxurious bath he had had while appreciating the remarkably gorgeous bathroom. This all-ivory bathroom was small but well-proportioned. In addition to its clean look, there was a hint of fine taste.

And so did the handsome bedroom have real elegance. The furniture was suitable to the cloth merchant’s fortune without exaggerated details. However gorgeous it looked, the ivory theme and the stone wall deprived any feeling of a home, unlike Sauli’s room which was now even more fragrant with warmth by contrast. The fine wool bathrobe was light and warm, the bed was soft, too cozy to stay conscious…

Later, he was awakened as the bedroom door swung open. Adam pushed up right away to slam the door shut, but at that time he heard the bathroom door banging, the doorknob rattled as if someone locked inside was trying to get out. _Whoosh_. The door bathroom door slowly opened by itself –

Adam opened his eyes, his heart almost bounced out of his chest. He heard the door opening behind him… lucidly, bringing him from dreamy slumber to heart pounding terror… Gingerly he turned his head to the right, peeking over his shoulder and he saw a shadow of a man figure stood at the door. In weak glow of moonlight, he could definitely tell who it was –

“Sir… How did you…” Adam breathed.

“Didn’t I tell you not to hide from me? Weren’t you listening?”

Panic, shock, fear, confusion, nausea, Adam did not know what to feel already. He should have known it. That Travis’s displeasure always led to punishment. From Travis’s voice, there was more violence than anger…

“Answer me!”

Adam jumped off the bed and immediately ducked behind it, barely fast enough to escape from the object soaring at him, and the next moment, it hit on the wall two feet before him. A loud crack and glass dropped to the ground, wine splattered over the scared teen.

There was no greater terror for the teen – he had seen dead bodies, he had strayed, he had been almost starved to death – than to imagine what sick tricks Travis was about to play on him. He should have shared a room with Nathan… It was such a bad, stupid decision to stay alone…

Adam clung to the leg of the bed. Sheer panic amplified as the young master’s footfalls stalking closer, growing louder. He curled up more and more till the master’s squatted right next to him. _“Here you are my blonde doll.”_ He flinched at the hot breath at the back of his ear, his whole body trembling under his arms.

“Help me…” Adam’s voice twisted up with fear and frustration. There Travis pulled him up and into his embrace. Breath caught in the boy’s throat. He tried to grab the frame but all his effort was useless. He wanted to push away from Travis’s grip, beating and fisting hard on his chest and upper arms, but the arms of the young master was mighty like armored.

“I’ve miss my doll. Have you missed me?” The man sounded as if he was talking to a child.

What kind of twisted game was he playing? At that moment a bony man snaked around him from the back and pulled him out of Travis’s arms. “Ahh – hmm –” It was one swift movement when a cold hand clamped over his mouth and the master shifted to grab his legs. He struggled and kicked as he was lifted to bed by both men.

The man behind first sat onto the mattress and placed Adam between his parted legs. Then Adam felt the familiar numbing seize on his wrists, and he was forced to cross his arms around his own waist as if he was wearing a straitjacket.

“Hold him well.” Travis sat on Adam’s knees, grabbed his chin and muttered. In his other hand, Adam saw him clutching some pearly powder.

“Wade…” Adam pleaded, “Wade… Why would you do this to me?” He got no verbal reply; instead, Wade stopped the torture on his wrists and shifted the grip to his hands. “Why would you help him? He’s not your master–”

“At lease he knows _I_ am your master.” Travis’s expression was cold. He was then quiet, intense, and irritated. “But you don’t.”

The powdery hand moved towards his face, Adam winced instinctively. Adam’s unexpected wriggle made Wade tightened his hold, his face thrust onto the boy’s right shoulder. Nowhere else to escape, Adam turned his face to his left, into Travis’s palm which had been waiting for him.

The suspicious powder rushed into his nose. It dried the inside of his nostrils, bumping around his nasal cavity all the way up to above his eyes. He writhed and thrashed, he turned out choking and gulping in even more of the powder. His nose and throat were drying to crack... His heart was beating fast he could feel veins pounding in his throat and on the top of his head.

Acknowledging the boy’s struggle, all a sudden Wade felt a massive guilt. He jumped off the bed and Adam dropped to the mattress, powder spilled all over. Adam turned and crawled, trying to grab hold of the bed frame but only to feel hands wrapped around his ankles and dragged him back down to the mattress.

“Where the fuck are you going?” Travis straddled on Adam’s hips and with both hands he grabbed the bathrobe. While the wool clung still on him, Adam felt like his arms would come off together with the sleeves any moment. With all his might finally he pushed up and rolled to his back, but the master moved faster than he could blink and had already ripped his waist belt away, exposing the nearly naked body of the boy in his black underwear.

“GET OFF ME!” Adam managed to let out his words, and, _SLAAAAAAP!,_ at the same time he left vibrant fingerprints on the man’s face. _SLAAAAAAAP!_ “DAMN YOU TRAVIS RICCI! YOU BEAST! GO TO HELL!” _SLAAAAP!_ And a slap after another, and another… He had no idea where the fury came from. He wanted to cry, while not far behind his fear was the thought of pushing the broken bottle into the psychopath’s throat. 

To Adam’s surprise, as he was trying to get up, Travis did not move an inch, just watching. The moment he had finally found his balance, there came a low irritated growl: _“Are you done yet?”_ , he felt a strike across his face with such force he fell back onto the mattress.

The world twirled and melted into white spots. Adam took a few deep breaths and stared up at the man towering him, who had then stripped to his pants.

“You can rape my dead body…”

“I will.” The master went on unbuckling his pants, with an arrogant smirk he stared down at his living _doll_ the entire time. “But first, I shall fuck you alive.” Then he slumped down, hungrily snorting on the pale neck, the _powder_ mixed with the beauty’s sweet scent, the real key to happiness tasted never better –

“Get off! Get off!”

After a chuckle, the master roughly he cupped the teen’s head and brought their lips together. Adam was not quick enough to resist. The tongue drove deep into his mouth and licking on his own. Then with a suck, his tongue was pulled into Travis’s oral. Adam pulled it back, but then Travis’s tongue followed closely and thrust back into him again.

Travis was doing his weird humming as if he was a kid enjoying his freshly baked pudding or a hungry dog chewing its fluffy toy. The sucking, licking, sniffing and the beard burn on his face stirred his stomach. Nothing was more sickening than to be forced to taste the master’s mouth, toxic with alcohol. This night it tasted even stronger as if it would make him drunk after this kiss. Finally he bit the man’s tongue and broke the kiss.

“Damn you.” Travis grabbed a fistful of the blonde fluff and yanked the head backward.

“No! Damn you!” Adam cussed back as Travis’s tongue connected with his neck. He punched and pushed against Travis’s chest with all the strength.

The tongue slid over the crook of his neck, along his jaw and ended up at the back of his ear. Lingering on his earlobe for a moment, it dug into his ear and the lips closed around it. The hotness and wetness in the man’s mouth, the warmth in his breathing and the gentle licking…It did not feel bad… Adam bit his lower lip and held back the moans in his throat. And yet the stiffening member in his groin had definitely given the most naked response on his behalf… No, he would never want to let Travis feel his response. But unknowingly his struggles became milder…

“Please stop…” Adam pleaded uselessly knowing the master would only be more delight to hear his begging. Since when did the master let go of his hair he had no idea. He just felt a hand was rubbing on his scalp, the other one was on his waist, roaming down fingering the waistband of his underwear. Gradually, Adam’s body went rigid. Lying still underneath the master, he did vain attempts in controlling his increasing breathing.

There was a very strange feeling that his every sensation seemed intensified: Travis’s smell musty from wine and cigarettes; the woody base note of his cologne; every single hair on his body tickled as soon as their skin touched. Then suddenly a thumb and forefinger around his nipple, Adam jumped in the shock on his chest.  

Travis let his doll writhe and squirm for a few moments before maneuvering himself down, toward the pounding chest. On his way he sucked and nibbled along, leaving the marks of ownership into the pale skin. Eventually his kisses fell on the doll’s right chest. He teasingly brushed his nose over the half stiffened nipple, and it peaked shamelessly as he blew warm air over it. A few sobs escaped from Adam’s tight lips.

“Tell me it’s just a bad dream…” Adam sobbed. Travis looked up just to see the drop of crystal-like tear ran into the blonde hair. “Tell me I will be fine when I wake up…”

Travis gently wiped away the tracks of the tears with this thumbs. “Why are you crying? I’m not raping you. I’m making love to you.” Adam did not respond and went on weeping. Again, Travis wiped on the boy’s soaked eyelashes, feeling the warm droplets streaming down his thumbs. “I really wanna nail your tight little ass right away but still I’m wasting time preparing you. You know how much I love you, how much I care about you?”

Once again, the master got no response. Rude. “Damn it.” Travis slapped on Adam’s crotch, rubbing and grabbing the slightly stiffened member ruthlessly. With his free hand, he pressed on boy’s neck to stop him from squirming. “Your cock is hard. Don’t lie to me you don’t like what I’m doing!” Then he slid into his underwear, the head of the cock was moist with pre-cum. Bringing along the fluid, his hand shot at the blonde’s face. “What is this? You are wet, slut!” With that, his mouth slammed onto Adam’s nipples and sucked each of them, so hard that the pink peas flushed a dark red. “You love me eating your nipples, don’t you fucking slut?”

“Adam… Adam…” Wade, the third person in the room, had been stepping back and forth from the bed. He just wanted to interact with Adam, or maybe, just to touch his hands one more time. But what had he done to the poor teen? He thought he should help, he knew it was wrong, but still he watched… those long fingers grabbed, scratched and dug into Travis’s skin, those hands pushed, slapped and punched… Why couldn’t he be in Travis’s position? He, too, wanted to be touched by _perfection_. There was a heat over his groin and he could not get over the lovely sensation. The hot pool down his groin pulled him forward – he took his steps to the bed, to where the predators were supposed to devour their prey.

Wade had been born to be a connoisseur of fine cloths, but of the _thing_ between adults he was still green. Thanks to the notorious rich jerk, he got to encounter the boy who made him grit his teeth with desire. He would not call it a perfectly sculptured torso compared to its owner’s face: baby fat still present and no visible muscle, and yet it looked rather adorable just like his well-proportioned hands. And the face would make every famous statues envy.

The vulnerability and fragility was inviting. He just wanted to take every advantage on the beautiful boy, squeeze him and kiss him to submission. Reaching out his hand, he ran his fingers into the blonde hair, slightly wet on the root but fluffy on the tip. His hand went down. What came next to the fluffiness was the soft skin on the forehead, soon he moved pass the wetness on the corner of the light blue grey eye, which was leaking a river and begging for help, but sadly, that was something Wade would be reluctant to give… Yes, Travis had promised him a chance to hold those hands again.

Leaving the teary cheek, Wade gripped Adam’s left hand and clutched it tightly. The ravishing hand felt as youthful as its owner’s babyish face. The shape of it was luscious, the skin radiating a beautiful aura that made his heart quiver... He could not believe he was pecking on the most beautiful hand, as many times as he liked, from the back to the fingers and the palm. The boy’s low weeps turned to desperate wails. But who cared? The hand was responding to his kisses, those flawless fingers were clenching on his palm. He felt the connection. He felt the interaction.

“You’re getting fucked by two men. Isn’t it a dream-come-true, slutty doll?”

The men pushed the teen into the abyss of despair, cruelly.

Travis went downward. Adam’s lower half still trapped between the master’s elbows and knees. Feeling the bearded face trailed down his abdomen, his chest was swelling, rising and falling in a quickened pace, he knew where the face would end up on. Big hands cupped the cheeks of his bottom, the master started licking around the outline of the erection through his underwear, soaking up the fabric with saliva. Adam tried to kick him off but not only was he never match with Travis’s strength, it only stimulated the beasty man to eat him deeper. Rough beard pierced through the cotton, nose and chin buried painfully into his privates. In one more futile attempt, Adam pulled on the master’s hair to him nipping on his scrotum.

Whether it was because he had got used to the master’s habitual assault or not, he was not sure. But now who disgusted him even more was the man on his left. Wade focused his entire being on swallowing his hand. The tongue started to lick him around the wrist, drawing a fat, long and extremely wet line up to his palm.

The pointy nose pressed against his fingers, snorting loud among the gaps of them, and then hyperventilating as if he was intoxicated. Wade alternated between sucking, licking and kissing over his whole palm, steamy breathings wetted up his hand even more. Instead of arousing, it was revolting. Suddenly his fingers were sucked into the man’s mouth. He immediately shot his right hand to Wade’s direction to shove him away but the man’s reflex was so fast that now he had the boy’s both wrists in his grip.

To Wade’s knowledge, Adam was pretending to struggle and staring at up as though he was mad, and the act was pretty convincing. Anyway, having the chance to worship these gorgeous hands of God was such an honor. Instead of beginning from the palm, Wade popped the right hand into his mouth till the tips of the fingers were at the back of his throat. Then he pulled them out sticking his tongue between each finger without missing a single inch of them, and one by one he sucked them gently.

Adam had almost drained his tears. Perhaps, he thought, he should give up on breaking free from Wade… At least being forced to dig into someone’s throat did not hurt. And yet the man on his lower half would always dine on his screams of shame and terror – Travis’s fingers were inside the elastic waistband of his briefs, he watched his underwear rolled down and stopped as the very first sight of his pubic hair.

Travis looked up at Wade and smirked. “Wanna see more?” He gave a little pull on the waistband and let it slapped back onto the boy’s skin.

“Please say NO, Wade… I beg you… Please–” Before Adam finishing his words, before Wade finished pondering, Travis yanked the little black underwear down his laps. Adam clasped his thighs tight together. With Travis sitting on his lower legs, he was completely defenseless. His eyes, again, watering. He was naked before a stranger, with his member responded to the assault and filled fully.

“I’ve told you. This little whore loves to act. Look how much he loves what we’re doing?” Travis laughed. Wade followed as though he agreed.

“Watch this.” With that Travis grabbed the boy’s cock and nibbled from the base of the shaft to the head. Using his lips and tongue he lapped at the slit under the cockhead before sucking it into his mouth. Adam instantly flushed at the scene that someone was watching him being eaten.

Hotness and wetness wrapped around his most sensitive flesh. Inside the mouth, the tongue started to lick up and down rhythmically. On and on the tip rolled around his cockhead making contact with the slit. The next moment, the cock was sucked down to a much narrower passage in Travis’s throat. As he pulled back, the tongue moved harder. Adam tried to hold back most of his moans. It was too shameful. He was not enjoying it, at least, he should never show he was. But then with a watery, loud and long suck, Travis pulled the pink muscle out of his mouth, Adam could not help whimpering along and bucked at the bearded face.

“Do you still think he doesn’t like it?” Travis smirked at Wade who was stunned with the most obscene scene he had ever witness. No matter how immoral it might seem, his eyes stuck on Adam’s crotch. Adam’s cock was pink, fleshy and huge… so much different from his own one. The hairy hands were pumping, fluid kept leaking out from the almost hairless cock. He glanced at the blushing boy a few more times and it suddenly dawned on him that he was as aroused as everyone else in the room. There was no more hiding the fact that his own cock was beginning to push up on his pants.

“Let me do it.” Wade had made his decision. That was the boy he wanted to please.

“NO!” Adam cried. The first time ever he wished for Travis’s possessiveness. “No… master…” He pleaded, and yet, the young master nodded to the other man. When Wade let go of his hands and climbed onto bed, Adam tried to get up but Travis shifted and mounted over his stomach in a flash.

“Now you know I am your master?” Travis took the boy’s chin and forced the tiny face up toward his kiss.

Adam bit his mouth tightly shut no matter how sore his jaw was. The master’s tongue wriggled over his lips but could not get in. He fisted on the hairy arms and curled up his legs closer to his stomach. In such adverse position, it did not take long for Wade to get complete control of his legs – Wade pressed his knees down, his thighs were spread and his heavy erection were dangling inches before the pointy nose. Every time Adam felt Wade’s breaths on his cock, he moved his hips to sway it away from the catching mouth. But then Travis cut through the defense on his lips, the tongue thrust in and squirming around. At the same time, Wade managed to grab his shaft.

Wade began by running his fingers on the shaft, feeling it gently. It was hard, and yet very soft on the skin. Squeezing in the middle of it, he could feel Adam’s heartbeat. He had never imagined how another guy’s cock would feel like, and it felt surprisingly intriguing. His tongue dipped on the center of the large, pink head. Still holding the pink prick up, he took a long, slow swipe around the leaking tip. He was amazed that he had already got used to the taste of Adam’s juice and he just wanted to try more.

So he opened his mouth and let the cock sink. He lowered his head until he felt the cock pressed against the back of his tongue. The monstrous pink cock gagged him, at the end he only managed to take half of it in. He bobbed his head a little and felt Adam’s thighs twitched. Twirling his tongue around the head, suckling on the juice softly, he was so enchanted by the feeling with Adam in his mouth, and he could listen to those muffled, captivating whimpers for ages. The incredible pleasure was surreal. He felt the saliva and juice collecting in his mouth but not sure if he should swallow. He spat before pulling up, then watched the fluid running down the shaft, coating the smooth, big balls and streaming down the valley between the plump butt cheeks.

“EHH – ” Followed Adam’s whine was the sound of a slap. Wade looked up and realized Travis had dropped to his knees above Adam’s face, straddling his neck. With a hand Travis took a handful of the blonde hair and with the other hand he was holding his penis and guiding it up to Adam’s closed lips.

“I count to three. Open up, or you’ll regret it. ONE – ” Travis pressed his cock harder onto those freckly lips. “TWO – ” But, no, the boy rejected, and he dared to slap the cock away. “Whore.”

Adam had expected the brutal slaps followed his disobedience. Travis better had slapped him to coma since the very beginning, he thought. But he had miscalculated what would come next after the slaps. In his half conscious, Travis dragged him out of the bed, to the door. Without a word, Travis reached a hand to the doorknob and pulled the boy toward the door with another hand.

“Ahhh! NO! NO…” Adam stepped backward but he was then slammed onto the doorframe.

“Let’s fuck in the hallway. Everyone will know Adam is a good slave to Travis.”

“EHHHHH–” Poor Adam was thrown out of the door. Although everyone in the house was asleep, he was overloaded with shame of being completely exposed in the public. Crossing an arm over his naked chest, he knelt down in front of Travis’s feet and covered his privates with another hand. Tears pouring down his cheeks silently, he did not even dare to breathe lest it would wake someone from slumberland.

With a hand in the blonde furry hair again, Travis asked, “Are we raping you now?” He intentionally softened his voice so that the blonde knew there was a chance to get back into the bedroom.

“No… master…” Adam’s teeth chattered, his body visibly quivering. He looked up at Travis with pleading eyes, shaking his head left and right, hopefully the master would be pleased by his submissiveness.

“Excellent. Don’t you love what we’re doing?”

“Yes, sir…”

“That’s my good boy. Now crawl to the back of the couch.”

The cruel master moved out of the way and the teenager went back into the room on his elbows and knees. Wade rushed to close the door right away, dashed to the boy and held him up. He sensed the boy’s pain, and yet, he was much intrigued by the master-and-slave relationship. Out of sense of guilt, he patted on the blonde fluff and wiped the tears off the soft cheeks.

“Don’t, spoil him, Wade. This boy has to be taught.” With that Travis tapped on the back of the couch. “Stop crying. Come and bend down.” Adam complied. He stood behind the couch and bent to the front. “Spread your legs like a whore.”

The boy’s naked body draped over the couch. In such a position, he had to press on the couch to support his upper body, there was nothing he could do to cover his bare bottom raised high in the air. Travis’s shadow fell in front of him, his foot slammed onto the couch.

 _“Look at me,”_ Travis commanded. Adam squinted and looked up at the cock waving at his nose. _“Suck and swallow,”_ was the next command. Adam resigned himself to the master’s absolute authority. Travis grabbed him by the hair, slowly thrusting his crotch into the boy’s face. Hard, fleshy erection barged deep into his mouth.

The head drew back and forth on his tongue, leaving an unpleasant track of saltiness and bitterness. Adam moved his tongue as much as he could and swallowed the fluid. He stared up at the master who was watching him and grinning with satisfaction while ramming the penis farther down his throat. Few minutes later Travis pulled his hair and banged his head against his crotch.

“Travis…” When Travis was manipulating the blonde like a rag doll, Wade hurriedly took his pants off, he was so distraught. “Travis, I want it…” He tapped on Travis’s shoulder however he got no response. But, should he really ignore Adam’s pitiful pleading? Up and down he paced behind Travis. Watching the cock sliding in and out of the plump lips, all thoughts of guilt were soon consigned to distant memory. All he could think about was to have the most beautiful hands on his throbbing, aching manhood.

He knelt onto the couch, took the boy’s hand and placed it on his cock. With his both hands he pressed and curled Adam’s fingers around the hot shaft. Slowly he drew the gorgeous hand up to the head and applied more pressure. The hot leak gathered up and he could stroke it in a quicker rhythm. “So good. GOSH!” He groaned, thrusting his hips against the cute hand. The palm so soft, the flesh very tender, wrapping his cock up warm and cozily, he wanted this moment to last forever.

Suddenly, Travis took his cock out of Adam’s mouth, then he pulled the blonde hair and turned the beautiful face toward Wade’s groin. “Open your mouth and stick out your slutty tongue.”

Adam soon realized that was to open his throat to the most for both cocks in his face. He could not believe how perverted this act would look like, right now he was too ashamed to open his eyes. The heads landed on the corners of his mouth, one thrust through his lips immediately, the other teased around the edge of his tongue. His mouth was too small to accommodate both erections, the men cooperated and took turn pulling out and pushing into his throat.  The slick and salty layer became thicker and stronger, filling his mouth with the most nauseous taste.

The assault in the teen’s mouth ended as Wade withdrew and left for somewhere. “Good boy.” Travis patted Adam’s head and followed Wade. Adam took the chance to spit as both men were out of sight. _SPANK!_ The next moment someone spanked and reminded him that they were at his back. Instead of the rough hands of Travis’s, it was a pair of cold and bony hands that were grabbing his buttcheeks.

Wade surveyed the boy’s bottom momentarily. The cheeks were perfectly shaped and felt soft as cashmere to the touch. He kissed them repeatedly before digging his fingers into the plump, white flesh and massaging it. As he did, his eyes traced the crack between them, stretched and close, the secret hole showed and hid again. His heart was overwhelmed by the curiosity and sensation that rolling inside. With both thumbs he spread the valley, the very obscene place revealed and gave an instant ache to his cock. He moved closer for a thorough visual inspection. The rosebud beckoned to him and he knew he could no longer resist but to bury his face between the sweet cheeks and gave it a long and passionate greeting.

He took the boy’s hole in his mouth and sucked on it gently, tickling it with his tongue. Adam was twitching and rolling his hips from side to side in his deep kisses.

“Go on. He loves it.” Travis chuckled. He pulled up and saw Travis next to him, sucking more crimson marks over the boy’s back while fondling the pink erection. Adam’s fingers clutched onto the couch and his toes curled involuntarily with explosions of forced pleasure.

“If you love it, I can give you more.” Wade panted. Spreading the cheeks more apart, he could see the tiny hole clenching and glistening with his affection, begging for more kisses. He so swirled his tongue around the tightly closed entrance, making Adam to whimper more. From the precious angelic sounds Adam was making, he could easily believe that the joy was mutual.

Travis had always been a forced masturbation expertise, as much as Adam wanted to show unwillingness, his prick throbbed in the master’s palm. And suddenly the lips smacked on his ass, “AH!” he cried out. The man was relishing his backside like a starving animal. Hot, wet tongue tickled around his sensitive flesh. It twirled around his hole, extending itself and gave him full, gentle licks. “WHAAAA… AHHHH…” It drove Adam frantic when the tongue hardened and prodded at the entrance. He closed his legs and wiggled around but Wade was too determined to get in that his mouth wrapped tight around the tiny hole no matter how buckling it got. “It hurts… Wade!” And his plead worked.

Wade stopped right away. With great anxiety in his voice, he asked, “Did I hurt you?”

“No, don’t stop, he’s learning.” Travis drawled, “And so are you, Wade. You’re fooled too easily by this little liar.”

Watching Travis slipped two fingers inside his own mouth, Wade hesitated, “I can’t twist what I’m seeing anymore. I feel… you fooled me into torturing him–” But he was cut off as Travis’s middle finger slid into the boy’s moistened hole, the boy squealed and squirmed in pain.

“What did you just say?” The arrogant smirk on Travis’s lips was definitely nasty. With his free hand, Travis spanked white ass. “Spread your legs.” The boy obeyed without a question. “Wider… Wider…” Those long legs stretched the widest till the plump cheeks were far parted. The finger started to slide in and out of the pink little hole, while the other hand moved from cheek to cheek, rapid, loud slaps ringing in the small bedroom.

At least thirty spanks, Wade counted, before Travis slowed down the thrust. The middle finger pulled out, leaving just the tip inside the tight muscle ring, then the index finger joined and pushed back inwards. In and out the two fingers went. The pink flesh hugged the invading fingers tightly. Travis showed no mercy as he twisted the fingers while plunging deeper and deeper. The little hole stretched open and clenched closed around the fingers. Adam’s cries became louder, Wade’s lips unknowingly curled upwards. That face, that body and that voice… Adam was attractive in a lot of ways besides the beautiful hands, he was overwhelmingly captivating.

“It hurts so bad…uhh…” Adam squirmed and his body twitched fiercely. A sudden cold landed on the back of his balls, moving upward. He tried to close his legs but the master slapped his ass cheeks, he parted his legs again. The master pressed a hand on the back of his waist, forcing him to arch his butt up, and there was no time to be fearful of what was to come – icy fingertips thrust into him. “Uh –”

Air chocked at his throat as the second knuckles viciously pop through his entrance and began to move. Hot, fat fingers and cold, skinny ones probed and pushed in as deep as they could reach, intensely burning his tender inner flesh. From time to time the men hit his button but the splitting pain had taken over. The men rammed him from different directions, no matter which way he thrust his hips to, there was no way to accommodate both of them and they would always hook their fingers to drag him back to the other side.

  _“Oh my god. He’s clenching me,” “He feels wonderful. So tender,” “His hole is flushing rosy red,”_ … Wade’s lewd murmurs were unbearably embarrassing. The men continued to play in his ass, abusing him in tandem with each other to open the entrance wider for the next torture. Knowing the more he struggled, the more it excited the men, Adam draped limply over the couch, waiting for it to end.

In alarm Adam felt Travis retreated and Wade followed. “Shhh… Wait…” Travis spoke under his breath. Adam knew the master would not be satisfied until he was completely destroyed. Right now, that sick man must be waiting for the entrance, which gapped a tiny hole after the rough fingering, to shut, so to inflict the most pain onto the victim. Soon, a cock poised at his rosebud.

“Guess who? –”

“AAHHHH…” Adam screamed. His aching anus was forced open again.

“It’s me, your master.” Travis’s laugh was frantic. His body banged violently against the boy’s ass, spreading tiny passage wider for deeper penetration.

“AAAAHHH… SLOW IT DOWN… EHHHH…” Tears poured down Adam’s face as the brutal rape went on. He pressed on the couch, making an attempt to get up but Wade suddenly appeared at his front. “Noooo–” He begged, Wade took advantage on his open mouth and shoved the cock through his lips. Then Wade grabbed the back of his head and pushed the cock all the way down. Travis went on thrusting, bumping the boy forward, forcing him to take Wade’s penis deeper until the freckly lips kissing on the skinny man’s pubes.

 _SPANK!_ “I didn’t see you swallow.” Travis continued ravaging the trembling passage while giving blistering strikes on the boy’s reddened butt, _SPANK, SPANK_ , loud and hard on both cheeks. Until he finally saw the lump on the boy’s neck moved. “Good boy. Keep practicing. Are you looking at Wade?”

Adam looked up to meet Wade’s gaze. Wriggling his tongue around his mouth, he tried to get the pre-cum off his tongue as quickly as he could. Both men were pleased with his performance. They slowed down the thrusts as a treat to his obedience. Though the attack was getting gentler, tears were still gushing out uncontrollably, his nose was fully congested and he felt like passing out… Which might be a good thing… but at the last moment, Wade noticed the boy was gagging and pulled himself out. Adam instinctively gulped and got awake again.

“You’re a good boy,” Wade said as he wiped Adam’s tears away. After another mouthful of fresh air, the cock inserted into the teen’s throat again, thrust, retreated whenever he heard choking voice and shove in again after the boy had regained air.

Had hours gone, or was it just minutes? Adam lost track of time. When Travis had finally stopped, again, Wade followed. Adam was in tears, sobbing. Though he could not see behind him, Adam knew it was not the end yet. Hairy arms held him up from behind. Adam’s legs had gone numb, they were unable to support his body so he fell onto Travis’s chest.

As the master was dragging him to the front of the couch, Adam could feel the prick stuck still between his buttcheeks. All a sudden, the master sat down and Adam’s butt dropped onto his groin. _“Wrap an arm around my neck.”_ Adam heard the command but he did not quite get the reason of it. Abruptly, Travis seized the underside of his knees, drawing his legs upwards and spreading them wide. Adam screamed as panic attacked, he immediately put his right arm around Travis’s shoulders for support or he would have dived onto the ground headfirst. As soon as he gained back his balance, he realized Wade’s eyes were stuck between his open thighs. So embarrassing. He was sitting on the master’s cock, facing the _audience_ with his groin fully exposed.

“He loves me fucking him from behind.” Travis explained to Wade. With that he tightened his seized on the boy’s kneepits and lifted him up. He maneuvered the boy skillfully till his cockhead positioned at the entrance, then he let the boy drop.

“Uhhh…” Adam whimpered as the master stabbed into his sore anus again. His burning hole had little choice but to open for the thick intruder. The master pulled out, carefully leaving the penis head inside the tiny ring and rammed in again. The rosy flesh hole opened up like a flower, swallowing the entire length of the cock. In no time, the master had picked up a quicker pace. Adam’s fury pink erection swung and slapped painfully between his own stomach and the couch that he had to hold it still with his left hand.

Moments later, Travis slammed into him even more swiftly. The sounds of his buttcheeks cracking against the master’s groin was too audible, Adam was lost in emotions of humiliation and mortification. He knew this everything, Wade was there watching. He cried louder to cover his shame, but that made Travis mimicking his moan even more frenziedly.

“This seems so good... Let me do it– ” Right off, to both Adam and Travis’s surprise, Wade took the blonde’s left arm trying to jerk him off Travis.

“SIIIIIIIIIIR! AAAHHHHH!” Adam screamed in fear, his right arm deadly locked around Travis’s neck. However much he hated the young master, he would never want to be raped by one more man, and he was glad to see Travis shoved Wade away. But then Wade shocked the two once again as he straddled Travis’s laps and positioned between Adam’s thighs, grabbing his own cock he attempted to drill into the tiny hole which was already occupied. To achieve it, he firstly opened the entrance with his finger –

Extreme pain blacked out Adam’s eyes for a second, then he caught Wade’s hand and instantaneous Wade responded by rubbing on the hand he fetishized. Then he took Wade’s cock and began to rub, from the base of the shaft to the tip, stimulating the underside of the cock and went back down to the balls. Whether Travis’s punishment would go on was no longer his biggest concern. He had to get Wade explode as soon as he could. Wade’s moan was growing wild like a beast. Adam’s believed his plan was working perfectly, until Wade’s third raid.

The skinny man abruptly bear-hugged around the boy’s waist, with his full strength he jerked the boy off successfully, and right away tossed him to the ground. Jumping onto Adam, Wade turned him to his back, hauled his legs up in the air and pound into the hot narrow passage at once. Adam shut his eyes and wailed, he fisted on Wade, wherever he could reach, but then Wade locked both wrists in his hands. “Adam you’re so beautiful. Adam… Adam…” He was euphoric to have his cock buried deep inside the ravishing boy and sucking on the magical fingers at the same time.

“STOP IT… STOOOOOP!” Adam was bouncing on the ground as Wade pound him mercilessly that it brought pain to his spine. Wade was not as thick as Travis, but the length resemblance his freaking height. The cock drove deeper and deeper into his rectum, banging against somewhere Travis had never explored. “SIIIIIRRR…” Where was Travis? Did he not regret brining Wade here? Did he not feel sorry about his _doll_ getting raped?

“GET OFF!”

Finally, Adam heard Travis’s voice again, and he felt Wade lost his balance and dropped to the ground. Adam laid on the floor, gasping in relief. And yet, he sensed Travis kneeled between his spread legs. Travis held his waist and pulled him against the probing cock. Adam’s sobs told the master that he really, really, could not take any more attack, but as always, that seemed to be the reaction the sadistic man was yearning for – he forced into the teen’s hole, savagely used and stretched the tiny anus for his pleasure.

The ravaged teen lay feebly. He was too exhausted he hallucinated, his consciousness floating in the air. Travis spurted inside of him, the cream burnt on his torn flesh. There, Wade was allowed to fuck the boy again, with the lubrication of Travis’s sperm he slid in easily; and not shorter than he expected, Wade exploded. Adam was then quite convinced that the worst part of this bad dream had passed. Now he could close his eyes, waited till the break of dawn, he would find himself safe and sound on his own bed.

_“You have a beautiful doll, Travis.”_

_“Of course. That’s my Adam.”_

_“It stays with me.”_

_“No way! Dude, we have a deal. Just one fuck.”_

_“We can change the deal. Beautiful doll stays with me. I give you everything you want.”_

_“Get out of here.”_

Those were the final lines of the _nightmare_. Adam went back to slumber peacefully, like a new born baby.

***

 _Move. MOVE!_ Adam opened his eyes with his face thrust to the right. His body was still hurting badly that his eyes were burning with tears. He sat up, shaking… Looking around the room in the weakest moonlight, clothes all over the floor, broken bottle lying on the ground, wine soaked into the wallpaper. The same setting as in the _nightmare_ … The only difference was now he was in pajamas.

 _“This isn’t real…”_ He got off the bed, pieces of the horrible dream flashed back like out of control. He could not remember everything in it… it was vivid, but blurry. He had seen Travis, of course the sick man would be there as always, and who else?...Yes, that servant who scared him and tried to take his hand off that afternoon. It made sense that the same pain on the wrists came back at him at night… Without noticing, he was right before the shattered bottle; and one more step he took, his foot was bleeding.

Adam took the large piece of glass out of his flesh, studying the dark red stain on it. It cut deep, but why did it not hurt? _“I have to wake up… Wake up, Adam. Wake up.”_ While he was murmuring to himself, light came from the back of him. He turned –

“Oh. You scared me, baby.” It was Travis suddenly burst out from the bathroom. “What’s that on your hand?”

Clutching the piece of glass firmly in his right palm, “Nothing,” Adam lied. Hurriedly he swung his hands to the back. He kept backing as Travis walked closer.

“Are you playing with glass? Give it to me.” Travis did not get the answer as the boy only shook his head violently. “Give it to me before I get mad.”

“No… NO! NO!” Adam bawled with his coarse voice. The young master was getting mad. He had to get out of this dream, right now. But how? His back hit on the wall, nowhere left to escape. “STOP!” Shooting out his right hand he pointed the glass at Travis making him pause. But then the master resumed. “I SAID STOP! WAKE ME UP! AHHHH…”

_SCRAAAAATCH –_

“WHAT YOU DOING?”

The boy scratched a long line across his cheek right before the master’s eyes. Travis was petrified. He backed away and raised his hands, “Don’t do that! I’m leaving you alone, okay? DON’T!”

Then,

from nowhere came the cold hands again, grabbing his wrist, and from the next moment, Adam did not know what happened. He was too tired to open his eyes.

 _“Please, God, I have to wake up now! Help me…”_ Adam prayed. In his dreamland, he could see nothing but darkness, and yet, he could feel cold metal moving across his jaw to his chin, then under his nose.

_“Dr. White? Why is he still coming if he can’t do anything except making the boy sleep like a dead body?”_

_“You weren’t here when he was up yelling and hitting his head to the wall. At least he won’t hurt anyone when he’s sleeping.”_

The voices were familiar. The surrounding had the scent of safety. Adam popped his eyes open, what he saw first was his razor, and a wrinkly hand. It took him a moment to adjust the focus. “Edith?...” Though he felt weak even to speak, the pain had gone. He had finally escaped from the bad dream. “How long have I slept?” He asked.

“3 days,” Edith said.

“I had a very long nightmare. Horrible.” Adam said feebly. All the grannies now stood around him in alarm.

“Poor boy,” Edith replied.

Though her voice sounded cold, Adam gave back a sweet smile. He then looked around and realized Dorothy was absent. “Where is gran? I need her… I dreamed that... she left… Edith, could you bring her here? I’m so scared…” He was then weeping like a child. The grannies stood still and remained silent. Why were they so cold? As if he was irrelevant?

“Edith! Say something…” Choked by his tears he covered his face as he coughed. There he saw the thick gauze wrapped around his right palm… No matter how hard he tried, he could not bend the fingers. “What’s wrong with my hand? I can’t move my fingers...” He could not even feel them.

“Adam,” finally, Edith talked. “It was not a dream. Dorothy passed away 5 days ago, before you went to the cloth merchant–”

_The cloth merchant –_

“NOOOOOOO!” Adam pushed up, the ladies tried to hold him in place but he pushed them off. “This is not real! AHHHHHHHHHHH!” He bellowed, howled and yelped, stormed out of the bedroom, burst the door and, just in time, he bumped into Dr. White and the nurse at the door. The people instantly held him down to the ground.

“Adam! Look at me!” White pressed a hand on the boy’s chest, “You recognize me? I’m Dr. White!”

“YOU ARE NOT REAL! LET ME GO!” The bawling boy struggled even harder as he saw the nurse passed a needle to the doctor.

“Don’t let me sleep again… Doctor… Let me out of this dream… I’m in so much pain… I beg you…”

Needle pushed into his arm, freezing cold liquid flowed into his vein, spread in lighting speed to his heart, then, pumped all over his body. His eyelids started to droop…

 

~End of Chapter 5~


	6. ~Not a new chapter~

My dearest readers,

I don't know how to tell you all about this here, I can only open a new chapter :p

Some of the pages here will be temporary shut down next Friday.

 

Don't worry, it will not be gone forever.

It's because I have to attend the interview for Master of Creative Writing in my dream university in the UK.

A few sample works will be printed to them.

Just in case they may google it afterwards and think I have copied from the internet, I shall pull them down beforehand.

Also, the versions I print to them will be the PG-13 ones, they are not supposed to see all these explicit details of the original versions.

 

I sincerely beg for your understanding.

Please don't leave me, don't leave this page. I will be back. I am always here.

 

xoxo

PoisonGlamor


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